Foxit Reader - Launching PDFs in browser?

[Muse]

I usually use Foxit Reader for PDFs. This Win10 machine opens PDF's, but I'm not liking that functionality at first blush, so I am just now installing Foxit Reader 8, a free download.

I am confused about the option you generally get when installing PDF readers to enable/disable launching PDF's in browsers. I sometimes disable that because I kind of like having my PDF reader launch in its own application. I have a better sense of what's going on, how to control things. I have always had a nagging feeling that this may be pure superstition.

If you enable launching PDFs in browser windows when you install Foxit, does that make every PDF you launch open in your default browser (e.g. you launch a PDF you've saved to your storage) or does Foxit start on it's own in that instance?

What's the advantage of (or actual mechanics of) launching PDFs in browsers? Why do they even have that? What's the purpose?

Do you enable or disable the option of launching PDFs in browsers?

 

[Muse]

No answers yet. So, I did a search. Not a lot of low hanging fruit, but I did find one site. This guy appears to absolutely agree with me and says:

"Personally I hate having PDFs open within the browser. I find that the PDF reading application, like Foxit, Acrobat or others, generally provide me much more control over how the document is presented in turn making it much easier for me to read.

It’s one of the first things I change when I configure a browser."

How do I get PDF files to open inside my browser? Or not?

https://askleo.com/how_do_i_get_pdf_files_to_open_inside_my_browser_or_not/

 

[lxskllr]

I always use a standalone program for viewing pdfs. Using a web browser for documents is mission creep, and isn't as good as using a proper program designed for the task. Web browsers are for html.

 

[pyonir]

Kind of depends for me. If it's something I only want to take a quick look at, I'll view it in FF. Most often though I download it and view it in Sumatra. When viewing in browser, I just use the default FF built in viewer.

 

[TheRyuu]

Using a stand alone program (that's not the built-in Windows 8.1/10 pdf viewer) for viewing pdf's will probably leave you in a position where from a security standpoint you're actually worse off.

Lets take Chrome for example. When you view a pdf in Chrome all rendering and processing of that pdf is taking place inside of heavily restricted renderer and PPAPI out-of-process plugin processes.

When you view a pdf in Sumatra you're viewing it in an environment which is not at all sandboxed and uses probably no additional Windows security mitigations. Even the built-in pdf viewer in Windows 8.1/10 is better than that since it's basically a very simple sandboxed UWP.

The moral of the story is your best bet is normally to just use what the browser gives you for viewing the pdf. This is especially true in Chrome where you probably get the highest security margin.

 

[balloonshark]

I prefer letting Foxit open the pdfs and letting my browser be a browser. Both are forced to run sandboxed with Sandboxie.

 

[TheRyuu]

I prefer letting Foxit open the pdfs and letting my browser be a browser. Both are forced to run sandboxed with Sandboxie.

Except one (Chrome) can also mitigate kernel exploits to a certain extent. Sandboxie cannot.

Also you reduce your attack surface if we're talking about Firefox w/Sandboxie.

 

[balloonshark]

Except one (Chrome) can also mitigate kernel exploits to a certain extent. Sandboxie cannot.

Also you reduce your attack surface if we're talking about Firefox w/Sandboxie.

I'm running as a standard user and I have a few sandbox rules to tighten up the sandbox. Only certain programs can run and have internet access. A pdf viewer in a browser is also one of those "jack of all trades master of none" things. I'm not sure how a browser company can make a safe pdf viewer when companies specializing in pdf apps have struggled for years. I also disable things like javascript in the viewer which should help. I also used to run a HIPS program which should have detected anything strange trying to run but they shut down the activation servers. But you're right. Chrome is good for the average user but I don't trust them and I like many layers in case 1 fails.

 

[TheRyuu]

A pdf viewer in a browser is also one of those "jack of all trades master of none" things. I'm not sure how a browser company can make a safe pdf viewer when companies specializing in pdf apps have struggled for years.

Because in the case of Chrome it's leveraging the excellent chromium sandbox[1]. I don't know if you could call Chrome a jack of all trades (I suppose to a certain extent it is) but it is a master of something and that something is defense in depth security.

[1] https://www.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/sandbox

 

[Muse]

Because in the case of Chrome it's leveraging the excellent chromium sandbox[1]. I don't know if you could call Chrome a jack of all trades (I suppose to a certain extent it is) but it is a master of something and that something is defense in depth security.

[1] https://www.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/sandbox

I have never used Chrome. I have Pale Moon on my Windows 10 machines (recently upgraded from Windows 7 and in both instances I restored Pale Moon backups after doing clean Windows 10 installs). I am using right at this moment my midtower HDTV machine which is running XP Pro (AFAIK it isn't even capable of running Vista). I tried to install Pale Moon on it a few days ago but saw info that Pale Moon doesn't support XP anymore, so I am still running Firefox on this machine (which I upgraded a few days ago to vers. 48.x). This XP machine has AVG Free running, just installed a couple days ago (Avira Free was driving me nuts).

If I run Chrome on this XP machine (and Windows 10 machines) will I have better security than with Pale Moon? View PDF's in Chrome then? Is it sensible to view PDFs within Chrome and perhaps use Foxit for printing (I have an idea that Foxit might give me more options when printing than within the browser, such as booklet printing, previews, maybe other stuff)?

Another question: If I view PDFs within Chrome will I be using Chrome's PDF viewing capabilities or can/should I use Foxit's capabilities to work within Chrome?

 

[R0H1T]

I have never used Chrome. I have Pale Moon on my Windows 10 machines (recently upgraded from Windows 7 and in both instances I restored Pale Moon backups after doing clean Windows 10 installs). I am using right at this moment my midtower HDTV machine which is running XP Pro (AFAIK it isn't even capable of running Vista). I tried to install Pale Moon on it a few days ago but saw info that Pale Moon doesn't support XP anymore, so I am still running Firefox on this machine (which I upgraded a few days ago to vers. 48.x). This XP machine has AVG Free running, just installed a couple days ago (Avira Free was driving me nuts).

If I run Chrome on this XP machine (and Windows 10 machines) will I have better security than with Pale Moon? View PDF's in Chrome then? Is it sensible to view PDFs within Chrome and perhaps use Foxit for printing (I have an idea that Foxit might give me more options when printing than within the browser, such as booklet printing, previews, maybe other stuff)?

Another question: If I view PDFs within Chrome will I be using Chrome's PDF viewing capabilities or can/should I use Foxit's capabilities to work within Chrome?

Well if you don't want to run pdf in a browser you can disable the Foxit addon in Palemoon, FF or chrome & that should disable the particular behavior, possibly need to turn that off in IE as well.

As far as chrome's inbuilt pdf viewer is concerned, it does give you some printing options, though not as good as Foxit I'd say, it's fine for everyday tasks

 

[TheRyuu]

If I run Chrome on this XP machine (and Windows 10 machines) will I have better security than with Pale Moon? View PDF's in Chrome then? Is it sensible to view PDFs within Chrome and perhaps use Foxit for printing (I have an idea that Foxit might give me more options when printing than within the browser, such as booklet printing, previews, maybe other stuff)?

Chrome no longer supports XP (Microsoft doesn't either).

Another question: If I view PDFs within Chrome will I be using Chrome's PDF viewing capabilities or can/should I use Foxit's capabilities to work within Chrome?

I do not believe Foxit's stuff works in Chrome. Chrome only supports PPAPI plugins now so you would be using Chrome's PDF viewer (which is what you want).