How do I authenticate Update Notices?

Question

A web acquaintence who I will call Lew recently suffered a hijacking which required a reformat and reinstallation of Windows. He believes that the worm was delivered in the form of malware masquerading as an Adobe Reader update.
     Lew described the notification which popped up in his system tray as a perfect imitation of the real thing.  I wondered why I was receiving spam from his email account, then he went silent for a week.
     On March 13 I downloaded and Installed Adobe Reader 8. Now I have an update notification in my system tray. The updater appears as
Adobe Acrobat Speed Launcher.ink C:\Windows\Installer\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000002}\SC_Acrobat.exe
in the startup list.
     How can I be certain that it is a genuine Adobe update, not a worm trying to sneak in?

Answer 1

Adobe Acrobat Speed Launcher is a worm according to dozens of forums and A/V sites
http://www.google.com/search?q=Adobe+Acrobat+Speed+Launcher.ink+C%3A\Windows\Installer\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000002}\SC_Acrobat.exe&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozi lla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
I've never seen a notification from my system tray for a Reader update.
The Adobe Updater will open IN A WINDOW and advise me that it is checking for updates.
That said, let me ask you this
Do you have antivirus software installed?
Have you run a system scan?
If you answered no to either or both, you need to get antivirus software (like AVG free) and install it. Then run a complete system scan. If this is indeed a worm, as it appears it is, AVG will find it and quarantine it.
As a rule, I always click Help and Check for Updates to update ANY of my Adobe software. I never rely on