Adobe putting spam in notification tray on Windows

Adobe is a cancer the second it is installed. Avoid this shitty company if possible, there's loads of fantastic and better alternatives to their products these days.

It's a work laptop. My personal stuff is running FOSS.
Is there an actual decent alternative that does digital signatures with CACs that doesn't also require a costly subscription?
- https://kbpdfstudio.qoppa.com/signing-pdfs-with-cac-under-linux/
  
  Does any of that work?
Have a recommendation for replacing Lightroom? Having a hard time finding an good alternative photo catalog mgmt solution.
- Replying in the hope you get a solid answer to this. I need a good photo workflow tool and would like it to be FOSS.
- Darktable (or the fork Ansel) or Rawtherapee and Digikam should get you where you need to be.
- Not really my kind of thing, so I don't. While adobe is a pile of shit, they do admittedly have some good software under all the extra shit piled on top and their suite is a lot larger than I remember these days!
But also, we need an illegalist project to steal adobe'ssource code and release it to the world for free.

Fuck remote hackers, we need infiltrators.
- I want someone to release the source code to ChatGPT, Sora, and everything else.

I have to have adobe installed on my work computer and fuck it’s intrusive everythingness. Fuck em.

Nobody needs Adobe's PDF Reader or Creative Tools anymore.

There are alternatives all over the web.

Update: I meant for personal use. I know that workplaces force us to use the same tools (and same versions of said tools) that they use.
- ... Unless mandated by IT.
- Sure, I don’t use it on my personal devices but I can’t install the better tools on my work computer.
- PDF Gear is the free alternative I use. Adobe can ~~eat~~ read a dick.
- How do you edit a locked PDF? What is the alternative?

Time to take away the notification permission of reader.

Or take away Adobe and use an alternative.
- Or put away Windows use an alternative.
- Not everyone has that option. I can only used approved software. Took 3 months to get WSL and Hyper-V approved for my desktop

Not an issue when you don't use Adobe.

Also not an issue when you disable this in windows.
- Also not an issue when you disable this in windows.
  
  How do you like having to opt out of everything, repeatedly?
Not an issue if you use an OS that values your freedom of choice

edit: typo
- Not an issue if you use IS that values your freedom of choice
  
  Did you mean "use an OS"?
  
  If not, what does IS stand for?

There's a reason I have my windows configured for do not disturb/focus mode, I can't say I've seen a notification come through that was actually relevant for me. The vast majority of what I've seen come through notifications are app spam, and I ain't got time for that

Agreed. Seems the notification tray in Windows is just a catch-all for spam (mostly from MS themselves)
- Nah, browsers are so much worse, but that's because most users blindly accept notifications from any sketch website then call and cry to IT because they "got a virus".
  
  I don't miss my days supporting end users.....
I absolutely hate when Windows will give you a different notification for each email that comes in, then an additional one to tell you "mail has new messages." Get out of my fucking way!
- As far as I can tell outlook will call out the title of the first 3 emails in a minute, then if further emails arrive you get the general message.
  
  Its really just a 'we are rate limiting our notifications, check your inbox' message.

The pop-ups on my desktop are the driving force behind me finally looking into Linux.

Between that, the installation of programs like HP smart, copilot, and Dev Home without my consent. OneDrive being trash. Start menu being slow ever since they deployed copilot even with it shut off. All the tricks to get you to run Edge. The list just keeps growing.

The notifications to get you to change notification settings on a program like Microsoft to-do not being run in a while just take the cake. I’ll run my apps if and when I want to. STFU M$. I pay you for an operating system to run my computer. Not to fight with it constantly.
- Linux is easier than windows now. Not because Linux got easier (it did, though not enough), but because windows is just getting so much worse so fucking fast.
just that?
- Everyone has a breaking point, it's always better to embrace them when they reach it.
- Of course not just that but it's the last straw.

I don't touch Adobe software. Not only due to the abusive subscription, but even the pirated versions will install Creative Cloud and a thousand supporting applications that permanently modify your Windows shell, explorer, scheduled tasks and many more system features.

Dude I did it on my previous pc and it was super aids to fully remove it. Never again, I'm sticking with Foss as much as possible now. Photopea is great as a photoshop alternative for anyone who isn't a professional.
- Is it easier to use than Gimp?

get sumatrapdf.

havent been on windows in a while, but im assuming its still the great lightweight viewer it used to be.

It is. I have trouble making it the default reader. Stuff still opens in Edge. Not sure what the deal is.
- Had that issue too, search in Start for "Default Apps", then scroll to the bottom and click "Choose default application by file type". Then scroll to .pdf and choose Sumatra. The settings window may crash for some reason, but for me the file association did seem to stick after that.
- the deal is probably windows lol
  
  they do push very hard for us to use it
- Edge is the superior app! (To adobe)

My daughter needs Windows on her notebook for school. The OneDrive popups that you can never turn off, only silence for a month, on Windows 10 are enough to piss me off on her behalf.

Every time I use windows, I run this debloater script which remove all unneccessary programs that you choose to delete. It even has options to remove the PDF defaulting to edge (mentioned because it kind of related to this post).
- Every time I use windows, I run this debloater script
  
  Ironic having to use an open source script to make a closed source OS behave itself.
She "needs" it on her personal laptop? For what?
- For her online school which requires it.
  
  Hence her needing it.
  
  I suppose you think she her education should consist of reading online Linux manuals?

Firefox can open and edit PDFs, just uninstall the Adobe junk.

Wait it can edit PDFs? Huh who knew! Thnx for the tip.
- It is a relatively new feature

I can hardly remember the last time any notification was not some kind of spam or self-notification.

I turn 99.95% of notifications off on any platform. The worst offenders are the apps that will show me a permanent in-app notification that I have turned off notification permissions… especially those that do so blocking the regular UI of the app to tell me this. Even some apps I’ve paid for do this. I condemn those to the deepest pits of app-hell.

This company is insufferable.

Adobe … spam … Windows

That sounds about right.

Just throwing out there that PDF X-Change Editor and WondersShare PDFelement are both exceptional PDF editors. PDF X-Change Editor also has Windows ARM64 builds so you can run them on ARM based PCs. Although the best thing is to try and escape from Windows entirely anymore. Edit: Also, I second other recommends for Sumatra PDF for viewing. It has always been a favorite.

Okular is what I use everywhere. It's free and open source and a very nice application for pdf
- Oooh, forgot about that one, good callout.

Sumatra PDF for the win(dows).

Yep! But sadly I still have to use Adobe when I need to sign documents...
- I straight up tell companies to mail the form to me now.
  
  All my banking is on paper, insurance, etc...its ALL paper copies. I'm not filtering through 4000 spam emails from companies to find my shit, then deal with subscriptions and other crap just to send things back.
  
  Send me paper, and I will mail it back. Countless companies just can't process things anymore, it's hilarious
- Not sure but I think you can do that with Okular.

Uninstall and use a different PDF reader. I’m partial to sumatra PDF.

Sumatra is fantastic for reading PDFs, but it can't edit them. In that case I recommend PDF Gear.
- Or FF

The war of the dark patterns is waging on...

Crap like this is why I use Corel.

If you can avoid Adobe, FoxIt Reader isn't too bad. I have to uncheck some offer every time it updates, but I've never had it bug me otherwise.

Firefox can open/edit PDFs too, so you could get rid of Foxit since it's obnoxious as well.
- It's more to do with workflow for me. If I close the wrong Firefox window I could lose my session with 10k tabs. 😆
  
  I know there's ways to recover but last time I really considered it I found it more comfortable to have a separate app for PDFs. Do what you feel. ✌️
  
  BTW I don't work for FoxIt nor has any money changed hands between me and them. It's just what I wound up using circa 2015.

Don't they know, Windows comes with a preinstalled PDF reader, making this Adobe bloatware pretty much obsolete?

Yes, they know. The message is asking the user to change from their default to Adobe Reader.

its not just adobe. there are some good linux distors now.

Win11 is full of these kinds of ads, especially for OneDrive and Office

Win 10 too.

"Easily"

Windows is like paying to rent a whole house only to move in and find lodgers already living in all of the rooms.

Not only that, but they sure made it sound like you were buying the house

SumatraPDF

MINT, MINT MI-

use linux on daily basis, far better for your mental health. you can use virtual machine to work with these shitty softwares, or you can always dual-boot. make the switch!

OP mentions in the post details that this is a work laptop. Switching to Linux also isn't as simple for most people. I'm fairly technically minded and I still took nearly a year to fully switch, and I decided a year ago that to just not have the headache of virtual machines and/or dual booting, I'm back daily driving Windows because my degree requires me to use stuff that only works on Windows.

For you it may have been a pretty quick switch because your circumstances would've almost certainly differed.

That's why I think you're being down voted. If we want to drive Linux adoption, this isn't the way and never was.
- didn't read that it's a work device, but beginner linux distros are easy to install, like windows. OP probably shouldn't install another os on work device. making the switch is easy for the most people and you can use windows whenever you want besides it. linux adaptation has nothing to do with my comment. i don't care about my downvotes, what os people use or linux user percentage, but they should be aware of their options if these things annoy them. if windows works for you, and these things don't annoy you, you can happily use it.

As per usual: Install Linux, problem solved.