Converting a file from PDF to Word

I wrote a book on an Acorn Risc PC 600, and a friend produced a PDF and put it on CD for me. What are the disadvantages of the format? Is it possible to make a Word version for my Dell Inspiron laptop running Windows XP? Chris Riley PDF stands for portable document format. The idea behind this Adobe system is that you can capture a whole document, including the layout and any pictures, so that it looks the same regardless of the computer used. PDF files can also be password-protected to prevent copying, and even include DRM (digital rights management) restrictions. This can make PDFs less useful than other documents, depending on the permissions used. There are lots of free programs that will try to convert PDF files into Word files, including Free PDF to Word Doc Converter ( hellopdf.com ). However, if the file is under 100MB, the Zamzar.com website is often the quickest way to do a one-off conversion. At worst, you can usually print out a PDF document, scan the printed version with OCR (optical character recognition) software, then run it through a spell-checker. This can work reasonably well with clean text, such as a book, but may not be much good with fancy, printed brochures.

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Converting a file from PDF to Word

Ask Jack: January 29 2009

Ask Jack Dealing with Downadup What's the Downadup/Conficker worm all about? Should I be worried about it? Peter Bowyer JS: Downadup/Conficker has become somewhat famous as the biggest worm to hit Windows for several years: F-Secure has estimated that more than 9m PCs have been infected. It exploits a hole that Microsoft patched last October, but if you think you might have missed it, check that you have a folder called KB958644 in C:Windows in the $hf_mig$ directory. If you suspect you have caught Downadup/Conficker, run Microsoft's free Malicious Software Removal Tool, at here . Downadup/Conficker can also attack in other ways, and uses Windows' AutoRun feature to infect computers via USB memory sticks. You can always stop Windows autorunning things by holding down the shift key, but it's probably better to disable this functionality. In Windows XP go to Start, select Run, and type (or paste) gpedit.msc into the box. When the Group Policy console appears, click Administrative Templates, go to System, and look towards the bottom right for the entry called "Turn off AutoPlay". Double-click this to bring up the Properties sheet, select the radio button for Disable, and click OK. In Vista, after gpedit.msc, go to Windows Components and select AutoPlay Policies. Apart from Downadup/Conficker, Symantec has reported "an increase in malicious applications that use USB flash drive devices as a propagation method" ( symantec.com ). All-in-one next?

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Ask Jack: January 29 2009

Rigged PDFs exploiting just-patched Adobe Reader flaw

Just three days after Adobe shipped a patch with fixes for a critical Adobe Reader vulnerability, hackers are using booby-trapped PDF files to fire exploits against Windows users. [ SEE: Heads up: Patch your Adobe Reader now ] The in-the-wild attacks, first spotted by...

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Rigged PDFs exploiting just-patched Adobe Reader flaw