This past Tuesday, Adobe released a giant patch to Acrobat & Reader. The patch addresses <gulp> 29 security vulnerabilities (don't be smug about this if you're a Mac user or even a Linux user–the patch is for all three operating systems). What types of vulnerabilities are exposed? Malicious PDF files opened in Adobe Reader and Acrobat could cause the applications to crash and enable remote attackers to infiltrate your computer and launch information-stealing malware (programs developed specifically for causing harm to your computer). Yikes. Now that you understand why you should install the patch, here's how to do it.
Choose Help > Check for Updates to start the Adobe Updater (which automatically connects with Adobe's server and checks to see if you have the most recent versions of all your installed Adobe applications). If there is a more recent update available, you can mark it for download and installation. Your preferences can be customized to have the Adobe Updater check for new patches and updates automatically either weekly or monthly.
I suggest that you not wait to install the patch–your data is too valuable for someone else to be browsing through and looking for your passwords and personal data.
Once successfully patched, you can then choose Help > About Acrobat 9 Professional (or whatever release you have installed). You should see a message that says "Version 9.2" once the patch is installed.
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