Some things in life just get better with time. As a regular Acrobat user since version 2, I can tell you with great confidence that Acrobat 9 is better than Acrobat 8, which was better than Acrobat 7, etc.
Improvements and tweaks (and repair patches) are a constant component of the software industry. Adobe clearly doesn't sit back and take their eyes off the ball once its software is released. Those improvements can be obtained through Acrobat's (and Reader's) built-in Updater. To find out if your installation is current, simply choose Help > Check For Updates. If updates are available, you will be prompted to have the updates downloaded and installed.
Earlier this week, Adobe released an update which updates Reader & Acrobat to version 9.4. Most importantly, it addresses a critical vulnerability. Here are Adobe's words regarding this:
This vulnerability (CVE-2010-2883) could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild.
This should be enough of a reason to check if you have this update installed. If you have your Updater preferences set to download and install updates automatically, you may already be current (Edit > Preferences > Updater on Windows, or Acrobat > Preferences > Updater on Mac to see your Updater settings).
If your Updater informs you that updates are available, don't hesitate. The thought of someone in another hemisphere taking my hard drive and data out for a remote test drive is rather unsettling.
Note: You can read Adobe's Release Notes on version 9.4 notes by clicking here.
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