Best malware free pdf printer

[MalTwerp]

Looking for safe malware free pdf printer software for Windows. Free or low cost. But definitely do not want to have a repeat of my recent experience with PDFForge PDFCreator release  2.3 last March that was corrupted with malware at the download site. So says my company's InfoSec folks who detected that I had what they called a c2c beacon that they traced back to my PDFCreator 2.3 install last March (2016). Resulted in my company laptop being reimaged (I'm back in operation again btw. Not to worry). Even tho I'm pretty sure the 2.3 update I installed 2 wks later on my home machine is ok, I decided to strip it completely there too: uninstalled it and then poked thru the registry for anything associated with PDFFORGE and blew it away. 

The response from PDFForge when I posted a report about my experience to their forum was horrible. Denied that it had happened. Said that their free version includes some software that is mistakenly interpreted as malware (not what this was,  given that I've used their free version for many years with no issue, and I trust that our InfoSec folks know their business) and said that if paid for their pro version I'd get software without this what they claimed was a false positive malware. A despicable response in my opinion. 

So. Am looking for something ELSE. Free is ok if it has a good record of being malware free (pdf24 claims this). Low cost like NovaPDFLite may be OK but it's from Romania!  Can I trust it?

I'm in a state of once stung twice shy. Need pdf printer software but am not going to shoot myself in the  foot again. Any advice from this forum would be most appreciated. 

Thanks in advance!

[Aura]

Personally, I'm using CutePDF Writer. I think the installer is bundled with OpenCandy, but the offer can be unchecked (or the OpenCandy folder can be deleted afterward). Give me a minute and I'll test it out in a VM to confirm.

 

Edit: Yes it's bundled. I got a "SpeedUpMyPC" offer, which I declined. Though it didn't install OpenCandy. Your choice if you want to give it a go or not, always worked fine for my needs. Otherwise, we use pdf995 (paid software) at work.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Aura

[David H. Lipman]

There is no malware bundled with PDFCreator.  There may be a PUP but it is easily excluded from being installed.

That is the price we pay for Free software.  Just be vigilante.

[MalTwerp]

39 minutes ago, David H. Lipman said:

There is no malware bundled with PDFCreator.  There may be a PUP but it is easily excluded from being installed.

That is the price we pay for Free software.  Just be vigilante.

Fully agree. That's what our InfoSec guys think too. Many of us have been using it for nearly 5 yrs with no issue. And that's why they concluded that the executable install file was somehow corrupted at thinstalled with something they called a C2C beacon. Something that sits there broadcasting away. Enough that our network security guys noticed it and traced it back. They specifically asserted that PDFForge had not created an install file containing malware. 

 

Note that a number of my colleagues went thru the truly miserable ordeal of having out laptops withat last week. Which is why I agree that it wasn't something as minor as a PUP that our other protection software would have caught.

But oh yes - PDFForge admits that their free version comes bundled with software that is...- according to them... mistaken as malware. And yes, I have learned over the years, especially recently after 2.0 was released, to be particularly vigilante when installing PDFCreator. One needs to prevent a host of other things, such as PDFArchitect that I know from bad experiences is a bad actor, from installing. As Papa Heinlein would say, TANSTAAFL. ?

[MalTwerp]

1 hour ago, Aura said:

Personally, I'm using CutePDF Writer. I think the installer is bundled with OpenCandy, but the offer can be unchecked (or the OpenCandy folder can be deleted afterward). Give me a minute and I'll test it out in a VM to confirm.

 

Edit: Yes it's bundled. I got a "SpeedUpMyPC" offer, which I declined. Though it didn't install OpenCandy. Your choice if you want to give it a go or not, always worked fine for my needs. Otherwise, we use pdf995 (paid software) at work.

I think my reply to you got lost. What I wrote before was thanks. And a request for a link to pdf995 that i have never heard about before.  

[Aura]

No problem, here:

http://www.pdf995.com/

We use the paid, though it seems there are free versions available.

[MalTwerp]

Thanks!

[Aura]

No problem, you're welcome

[Porthos]

I use dopdf.

http://download.dopdf.com/download/setup/dopdf-full.exe

 

[MalTwerp]

Thanks. That's one I've considered but the one recommended by aura looks more reliable. I'm willing to pay a nominal amount ($30 sounds good) to guarantee assurance I won't get screwed. 

[daledoc1]

Hi, @MalTwerp:

The others who have advised you are far more expert than I am.
So, I will defer to them.

However, it appears from your posts that this is your WORK laptop (or your BYOD laptop being used at work)?
And as you have already been recently infected, you might want to consult with your in-house InfoSec department regarding the selection and installation of 3rd-party software.
For the obvious security reasons already highlighted by your prior experience, some businesses/enterprises exert control (or at least hope to do so) over the software their end users install on their systems.
And, as you've also seen, sometimes the price for "freeware" is too good to be true.

<just a friendly suggestion>

[MalTwerp]

Thanks. Did contact them. No advice offered. Yes - we are allowed admin privilege on our company issued laptops so that we can, being a bunch of engineers (software, system, electrical, etc) install whatever additional software we need to do our jobs. All of this is carefully monitored. They know exactly what SW is on our machines, tracking it daily. And inform us when important updates must be installed or risk being barred from the  network. So we are very careful choosing what we install on our own. 

Edited May 21, 2016 by MalTwerp

[MalTwerp]

and why I've decided for any SW installed both on my office and home machines to steer clear of freeware. Completely. 

[daledoc1]

Hi:

35 minutes ago, MalTwerp said:

and why I've decided for any SW installed both on my office and home machines to steer clear of freeware. Completely. 

Sorry, but I guess I misunderstood about the freeware, when you said:

19 hours ago, MalTwerp said:

Looking for safe malware free pdf printer software for Windows. Free or low cost.

Ennywho...

While there is no love lost between Adobe and me, and their software is neither cheap nor vulnerability-free, they have been the PDF standard for a while.
Sometimes, but not always, one does "get what one pays for", to a certain extent.
At least one knows that their software won't include malicious gifts. And it generally plays well with browsers, productivity suites (e.g. Office), etc.

Good luck - please let us know how it goes if you try one of the other, low-cost or free 3rd-party applications.

Cheers!

 

[MalTwerp]

You didn't misunderstand. Based on the dialog last night, my position on using freeware changed. No worries.  ?

[David H. Lipman]

I think you should modify your stance.

You should accept the use of Open Source Free Software.  Not just because they are free but because they respond to the public and modify the software to the needs of users as well as patch their software.  You'll find governments take that kind of stance because as Open Source you know the code is trustworthy and the authors will patch it for vulnerabilities.

You can't paint all free software with a wide black brush.  I can think of many notables that are free and of high quality with no bundling at all.  One such software is by David Harris' who produces Pegasus Mail. It has 25+ years under its belt being used and provided freely.  In other words, vet the software object before you condemn it just because it is "free".

Edited May 21, 2016 by David H. Lipman

[daledoc1]

^^ Points well taken, @David H. Lipman ^^

In retrospect, I ought to have been more precise in distinguishing between "freeware" and OPEN-SOURCE software.

OK, I'm outta here.

Cheers,

[MalTwerp]

1 hour ago, David H. Lipman said:

I think you should modify your stance.

You should accept the use of Open Source Free Software.  Not just because they are free but because they respond to the public and modify the software to the needs of users as well as patch their software.  You'll find governments take that kind of stance because as Open Source you know the code is trustworthy and the authors will patch it for vulnerabilities.

You can't paint all free software with a wide black brush.  I can think of many notables that are free and of high quality with no bundling at all.  One such software is by David Harris' who produces Pegasus Mail. It has 25+ years under its belt being used and provided freely.  In other words, vet the software object before you condemn it just because it is "free".

Ok . yes .. you're right.  I got sloppy in my terminology.  There is a clear distinction between OpenSource software and FreeWare. OpenSource software can be free (usually is) but sometimes may charge for the "Pro" version of their otherwise free open source software.  PDFForge PDFCreator is OpenSource ..having started out its life on SourceForge.  I quite freely (bad pun I know) use software from Mozilla (Thunderbird and Firefox) and other reputable open source software providers.  There are a number of very good companies I know of and trust that offer open source versions of their mainline commercial software; however, they typically only provide basic functionality .. any extensions or the ability to work with specialized add-ons requires purchase of the commercial version. Bottom line -- I freely admit my error.