Question Blocking annoying Acrobat reader demo pdf downloads

[RRlight]

Starting from 10th this month more or less, Adobe Acrobat Reader (probably, according to the file and link) has been trying to download 2 demo PDFs every day from its website through the links below.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo.pdf

https://acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo/verb-compress-pdf/demo-compressed-high.pdf

The pdfs briefly:

Since I have Internet Download Manager, the links always toggle the IDM, then it pops out the download task window. This happens almost once every day, so quite annoying.

I tried to use hosts file, but the problem here is that:

If I use

127.0.0.1 acrobat.adobe.com

it could block the files but it also blocks the official website for Acrobat.

If I use

127.0.0.1 acrobat.adobe.com/* 127.0.0.1 acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo.pdf 0.0.0.0 https://acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo.pdf 127.0.0.1 acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo/verb-compress-pdf/demo-compressed-high.pdf 0.0.0.0 https://acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo/verb-compress-pdf/demo-compressed-high.pdf

it's not blocking anything.

Any way to block those files or download attempts but not Acrobat official website?

 

[Bot]

Starting from 10th this month more or less, Adobe Acrobat Reader (probably, according to the file and link) has been trying to download 2 demo PDFs every day from its website through the links below.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo.pdf

https://acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo/verb-compress-pdf/demo-compressed-high.pdf

View attachment 283384View attachment 283385

The pdfs briefly:

Since I have Internet Download Manager, the links always toggle the IDM, then it pops out the download task window. This happens almost once every day, so quite annoying.

I tried to use hosts file, but the problem here is that:

If I use

127.0.0.1 acrobat.adobe.com

it could block the files but it also blocks the official website for Acrobat.

If I use

127.0.0.1 acrobat.adobe.com/* 127.0.0.1 acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo.pdf 0.0.0.0 https://acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo.pdf 127.0.0.1 acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo/verb-compress-pdf/demo-compressed-high.pdf 0.0.0.0 https://acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo/verb-compress-pdf/demo-compressed-high.pdf

it's not blocking anything.

Any way to block those files or download attempts but not Acrobat official website?

One possible solution to block the annoying Acrobat Reader demo PDF downloads without affecting the official Acrobat website is to use a browser extension that allows you to block specific URLs. You can add the URLs of the demo PDFs to the block list in the extension settings. This way, whenever the browser tries to access those specific URLs, the extension will prevent the download from starting.

Another option is to create a custom rule in your firewall or security software to block the specific URLs of the demo PDFs. By adding these URLs to the block list, you can prevent any download attempts from those links while still allowing access to the official Acrobat website.

If you are familiar with using browser developer tools, you can also try inspecting the elements on the webpage that trigger the download and use ad blockers or custom scripts to block those elements from loading.

These methods should help you block the unwanted demo PDF downloads while keeping access to the official Acrobat website intact.

 

[CyberDevil]

Only top-level domains can be blocked in hosts, meaning it doesn't support any complex rules or links. Only acrobat.adobe.com or adobe.com. You will need a third-party firewall if you want to block these two files specifically. Eset, for example, supports this. I think it can be done in some free PortMaster, but I'm not sure. It would be easier to come up with a solution if you understand what exactly is triggering the download and how. Does it happen when you start Adobe Acrobat or whenever you restart the system?

 

[harlan4096]

See my reply at K. Community:

Blocking certain urls for all programs using Kaspersky premium？

Hi all. I don't know why, but recently Adobe Acrobat Reader (probably, according to the file and link) has been trying to download 2 demo PDFs from its website through the links below. Since I have Internet Download Manager, the links always toggle the IDM, then it pops out the download task wind...

forum.kaspersky.com

 

[RRlight]

Only top-level domains can be blocked in hosts, meaning it doesn't support any complex rules or links. Only acrobat.adobe.com or adobe.com. You will need a third-party firewall if you want to block these two files specifically. Eset, for example, supports this. I think it can be done in some free PortMaster, but I'm not sure. It would be easier to come up with a solution if you understand what exactly is triggering the download and how. Does it happen when you start Adobe Acrobat or whenever you restart the system?

I'm not quite sure how this download is triggered. This happens at random times. I'm using Edge to read PDFs rather than Acrobat Reader itself (so I myself didn't start Adobe Acrobat), though Edge is now also supported by Acrobat in terms of PDF reading. I complained about this download the first time it appeared in another forum and was told normally software should download the files silently and not invoke IDM, adobe is just not careful about that.

 

[RRlight]

See my reply at K. Community:

Blocking certain urls for all programs using Kaspersky premium？

Hi all. I don't know why, but recently Adobe Acrobat Reader (probably, according to the file and link) has been trying to download 2 demo PDFs from its website through the links below. Since I have Internet Download Manager, the links always toggle the IDM, then it pops out the download task wind...

forum.kaspersky.com

Thank you and meet you there

 

[RRlight]

Only top-level domains can be blocked in hosts, meaning it doesn't support any complex rules or links. Only acrobat.adobe.com or adobe.com. You will need a third-party firewall if you want to block these two files specifically. Eset, for example, supports this. I think it can be done in some free PortMaster, but I'm not sure. It would be easier to come up with a solution if you understand what exactly is triggering the download and how. Does it happen when you start Adobe Acrobat or whenever you restart the system?

Just an update, I noticed recently that it tries to download around 19.20 every day. I installed Acrobat but not using it (excluding I'm using Edge reading pdf)

 

[RRlight]

Final Update:
Solved with Adguard, the following rule:
||acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo.pdf$document
||acrobat.adobe.com/dc-home2-dropin/demo-files/en-US/demo/verb-compress-pdf/demo-compressed-high.pdf$document