Fs9 And Adobe Reader 9.0

[kmanning 12]

Hi all,I don't know if this has been addressed but here's what happened when I installed the latest version of Acrobat Reader 9.0. Acrobat Reader 9.0 inlcudes Acrobat.com on Adobe AIR. Notice the word AIR. When I install Acrobat Reader 9.0 on my computer with FS2004, it renamed all of the AIR files in the aircraft folder. I noticed it when I was installing an aircraft into FS2004. When I try to open the AIR file in the aircraft folder, it says that the file is damaged. This is NOT normal. It should prompt me to tell it what program to open the file. When I run FS2004, I haven't noticed any changes in the aircraft or it's performance. Even though I haven't noticed any chagnes, the fact is the AIR files SHOULD NOT be renamed in the Aircraft folder in flight simulator. I can go into the Add/Remove programs and uninstall the Adobe AIR program and this will rename the AIR files in flight simulator back to their orignianl names. But this is something one should not have to do. Has anyone come across this problem or does anyone know of a fix? Ken.

[Opa 6]

Hi all,I don't know if this has been addressed but here's what happened when I installed the latest version of Acrobat Reader 9.0. Acrobat Reader 9.0 inlcudes Acrobat.com on Adobe AIR. Notice the word AIR. When I install Acrobat Reader 9.0 on my computer with FS2004, it renamed all of the AIR files in the aircraft folder. I noticed it when I was installing an aircraft into FS2004. When I try to open the AIR file in the aircraft folder, it says that the file is damaged. This is NOT normal. It should prompt me to tell it what program to open the file. When I run FS2004, I haven't noticed any changes in the aircraft or it's performance. Even though I haven't noticed any chagnes, the fact is the AIR files SHOULD NOT be renamed in the Aircraft folder in flight simulator. I can go into the Add/Remove programs and uninstall the Adobe AIR program and this will rename the AIR files in flight simulator back to their orignianl names. But this is something one should not have to do. Has anyone come across this problem or does anyone know of a fix? Ken.

This issue raised it's ugly head a few months ago and caused quite a panic.Adobe has indeed created a new program - used mainly on web pages etc - which uses the name (extension) AIR. When you installed the update it automatically changed the "association" of any files with an .air extension to now open with the Adobe program.As far as I know it did NOT rename any FS air files - it only changed what program would be used to open them for editing.The most common program used to open and edit FS air files is called AirEd - available here in the library. It has an option in it to associate the AirEd program with our .air files and that would be one way to restore the opening function. Most simmers will never need to edit any .air file (not to be confused with aircraft.cfg files) - so it really is not as big a concern as we first thought.Many have uninstalled the Adobe update and have reverted to one of the alternative freeware PDF reading programs.Even with our .air file associated with the Adobe program that does affect how FS uses air files. It is only a concern if you wish to open and edit them and then you will get an error message because our air files are not in the format the Adobe program expects and thus reports them as being corrupted.I think I have correctly outlined the basics of what we discovered. If not, I am sure someone will fill in the blanks and/or make corrections.I have my system setup to never allow updates unless I approve of them and thus I did not allow the update to my Adobe reader.

[tunnelcat 1]

Ken,This one was discussed quite extensively a short while back. Read here, especially the flightsim.com forum link supplied by Opa earlier:http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtop...p;hl=.AIR+AdobeIt's only a problem if you do aircraft file editing and try to save the modified file, things get corrupted, at least that's the Adobe error nag you get. But personally, I didn't like what Adobe did to my FS9 aircraft file extensions by the usurping the use of the already extensive and long used by FS9 .air extension. At the present, I don't even want to use Adobe AIR and frankly it was installed without my understanding of what it was really used for. So I just uninstalled Adobe AIR and no problems occurred. Adobe Reader still works just fine. Shame on Adobe!Kim

[Opa 6]

Ken,This one was discussed quite extensively a short while back. Read here, especially the flightsim.com forum link supplied by Opa earlier:http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtop...p;hl=.AIR+AdobeIt's only a problem if you do aircraft file editing and try to save the modified file, things get corrupted, at least that's the Adobe error nag you get. But personally, I didn't like what Adobe did to my FS9 aircraft file extensions by the usurping the use of the already extensive and long used by FS9 .air extension. At the present, I don't even want to use Adobe AIR and frankly it was installed without my understanding of what it was really used for. So I just uninstalled Adobe AIR and no problems occurred. Adobe Reader still works just fine. Shame on Adobe!Kim

Actually it should be "shame on Microsoft" - as they failed to register the .air extension with the governing body which oversees such things - so anyone was free to make use of the extension name.

[tunnelcat 1]

Actually it should be "shame on Microsoft" - as they failed to register the .air extension with the governing body which oversees such things - so anyone was free to make use of the extension name.

Thanks for that little nugget of information. I should have known it was Microsoft's fault, not Adobe's. They document things poorly, love to hide as many details as possible and are sloppy when they code software. However, MSFS is so prevalent out there all over the world, you'd think somebody at Adobe could have done a Google search or ?????? concerning that extension before they tried to use it. My fault with Adobe was installing AIR in the first place, it was essentially shoved on my system when Adobe Reader 9 was installed without a chance for good forethought by the user, me!Kim

[kmanning 12]

Actually it should be "shame on Microsoft" - as they failed to register the .air extension with the governing body which oversees such things - so anyone was free to make use of the extension name.

Hi all,Thanks for letting me know about the issue with the AIR extension. I never heard of Adobe AIR until I installed Adobe Reader 9.0 and I didn't realize it used the same extension as flight simulator. I think I'm going back to version 8. If Adobe would just simply NOT include the Adobe AIR in version 9, this would not happen. Ken.

[mgh 89]

Actually it should be "shame on Microsoft" - as they failed to register the .air extension with the governing body which oversees such things - so anyone was free to make use of the extension name.

What governing body is that? I didn't think there is one and that file extensions are a free for all.

[Opa 6]

What governing body is that? I didn't think there is one and that file extensions are a free for all.

According to Reggie Fileds, who is a professional programmer (and avid simmer), there is indeed such a body and MS simply failed to register the extension. Extensions are apparently not in the "free for all" category.His informative and detailed post on the subject is here on the forum - but the link I had to it does not work since the new format was introduced.Reggie also works with the Adobe Air program which some web sites will be using (or may already be using) - so he really knows what he talking about.

[RFields5421 1]

There is not an official overall governing body. But there several groups which keep track of and organize file extensions to avoid conflicts.The place where Microsoft made the biggest error in not registering the .AIR file extension is in the Windows Registry.When you install FS, .AIR is not a recognized file type to Windows. There is no program or action associated with .AIR files, so the extension has no meaning to Windows. Almost all file types in FS have some association. But there are some big holes. .GAU is not yet claimed, .FX files are used by a company called FastLynx, .MDL files are known as models, but they are also used for some older spreadsheets. .BGL files are open for anyone wanting to use them.We don't know how far Adobe Air will go. It has a lot of potential, but right now it is immature and causes a lot of problems in corporate and secure computing environments. It might end up as common as Flash, and it might fade away.We've just started removing our first internal Adobe Air application across the company, and we are starting to block unknown .AIR files from installing on company computers.(I'm not a programmer Dave, I create program installations to use in our company, often by rewriting, tweaking, or rebuilding the OEM installation. A minor distinction to some, but a big one to others.)We are going to see this type issue more often.Frankly, the FS community is too small and insignificant for a developer like Adobe to care if their application takes our file extension. And it is going to happen again in the future.One way we can defend ourselves is through education as to what is really happening.When Adobe Air is installed, the .AIR file extension is identified in the Windows registry with the Air application.The first thing you notice is that .AIR has an icon and thereby an application associated with the file. That does not change the file name, nor does it change anything in or about the file itself.If you have the default Windows file display options, you will no longer see the file extension. The default is Hide extensions for known file types. I would have assumed that all Flight Simmers would have turned off this option in their folder settings, but the discussions over this subject make it very clear that they have not. Which probably explains why some people cannot find texture files or such.The activity setup to occur when a .AIR file is double clicked is

application/vnd.adobe.air-application-installer-package+zip

If you are not familiar with the way Windows works - you may think a .AIR file is used by the Adobe Air program - it is not. The .AIR file used by the Adobe application is basically a fancy zip type file - a collection of other elements used to Install an Adobe Air program. If you hover the mouse over a .AIR file, Windows should tell you that the file is an Installer file.Now when you double click on a file with a .ZIP extension which is not a WinZip file - you get an error that WinZip cannot figure out what to do with the file. So WinZip thinks the file is corrupt.The same thing happens with .AIR files used in Flight Simulator - Adobe Air tries to install your new program and cannot figure out what to do with the file - so it tells you the file appears corrupt - TO ADOBE AIR.The file is not corrupt to Flight Simulator. FS does not use the registry to know what data should be in a .AIR file, that is internal programming within FS. Even if you assign the file type to FS, which will bring up an FS error message - it is still not corrupted.Flight Sim .AIR files were never ment to be opened for editing or execution with an application - and that is all the installation of Adobe Air does - setup an association to launch an application action.And the FS .AIR file does not fit that file structure, so it fails.That is all you get - a different failure message.Because before Adobe Air was installed - you would get an error message if you double clicked on a .AIR file - "Windows cannot open this file"All that happens now is that you see a different error message.You can uninstall Acrobat if you wish, or you can just uninstall Adobe Air.Or you can realize it is just a harmless association which has no meaning or change in behavior on your computer.

[jagabom 21]

I use foxit reader. If you just want a basic PDF file reader, this is the way to go.http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.phpJimCYWG

[Opa 6]

There is not an official overall governing body. But there several groups which keep track of and organize file extensions to avoid conflicts.The place where Microsoft made the biggest error in not registering the .AIR file extension is in the Windows Registry.When you install FS, .AIR is not a recognized file type to Windows. There is no program or action associated with .AIR files, so the extension has no meaning to Windows. Almost all file types in FS have some association. But there are some big holes. .GAU is not yet claimed, .FX files are used by a company called FastLynx, .MDL files are known as models, but they are also used for some older spreadsheets. .BGL files are open for anyone wanting to use them.We don't know how far Adobe Air will go. It has a lot of potential, but right now it is immature and causes a lot of problems in corporate and secure computing environments. It might end up as common as Flash, and it might fade away.We've just started removing our first internal Adobe Air application across the company, and we are starting to block unknown .AIR files from installing on company computers.(I'm not a programmer Dave, I create program installations to use in our company, often by rewriting, tweaking, or rebuilding the OEM installation. A minor distinction to some, but a big one to others.)We are going to see this type issue more often.Frankly, the FS community is too small and insignificant for a developer like Adobe to care if their application takes our file extension. And it is going to happen again in the future.One way we can defend ourselves is through education as to what is really happening.When Adobe Air is installed, the .AIR file extension is identified in the Windows registry with the Air application.The first thing you notice is that .AIR has an icon and thereby an application associated with the file. That does not change the file name, nor does it change anything in or about the file itself.If you have the default Windows file display options, you will no longer see the file extension. The default is Hide extensions for known file types. I would have assumed that all Flight Simmers would have turned off this option in their folder settings, but the discussions over this subject make it very clear that they have not. Which probably explains why some people cannot find texture files or such.The activity setup to occur when a .AIR file is double clicked is If you are not familiar with the way Windows works - you may think a .AIR file is used by the Adobe Air program - it is not. The .AIR file used by the Adobe application is basically a fancy zip type file - a collection of other elements used to Install an Adobe Air program. If you hover the mouse over a .AIR file, Windows should tell you that the file is an Installer file.Now when you double click on a file with a .ZIP extension which is not a WinZip file - you get an error that WinZip cannot figure out what to do with the file. So WinZip thinks the file is corrupt.The same thing happens with .AIR files used in Flight Simulator - Adobe Air tries to install your new program and cannot figure out what to do with the file - so it tells you the file appears corrupt - TO ADOBE AIR.The file is not corrupt to Flight Simulator. FS does not use the registry to know what data should be in a .AIR file, that is internal programming within FS. Even if you assign the file type to FS, which will bring up an FS error message - it is still not corrupted.Flight Sim .AIR files were never ment to be opened for editing or execution with an application - and that is all the installation of Adobe Air does - setup an association to launch an application action.And the FS .AIR file does not fit that file structure, so it fails.That is all you get - a different failure message.Because before Adobe Air was installed - you would get an error message if you double clicked on a .AIR file - "Windows cannot open this file"All that happens now is that you see a different error message.You can uninstall Acrobat if you wish, or you can just uninstall Adobe Air.Or you can realize it is just a harmless association which has no meaning or change in behavior on your computer.

Thanks for the concise and proper explanation Reggie. My apologies for misunderstanding the exact nature and scope of your work.

[RFields5421 1]

NPThat job ends this coming Friday - and I get to 'find new opportunities' due to a change in IT strategy to outsourcing.It's been a great job, a great place to work, but time to move on.Maybe I'll have more time for FS stuff while job hunting :( - if my wife lets me.And to show what is really important - just now on the TV news in Dallas, I saw my doctor on TV in front of his daughter's home which burned down today, she, her husband and children ages 2 and 8 months escaped with a bit of smoke inhalation for the baby. My problems are minor in comparison.

[Opa 6]

NPThat job ends this coming Friday - and I get to 'find new opportunities' due to a change in IT strategy to outsourcing.

May I be the first to wish you well on whatever the future may hold for you and your family!Perhaps MS will be "smart" enough to make you and offer you cannot refuse and you can be an advocate for the addicted simmers out here in the real world.Good luck.

[mgh 89]

According to Reggie Fileds, who is a professional programmer (and avid simmer), there is indeed such a body and MS simply failed to register the extension. Extensions are apparently not in the "free for all" category.His informative and detailed post on the subject is here on the forum - but the link I had to it does not work since the new format was introduced.Reggie also works with the Adobe Air program which some web sites will be using (or may already be using) - so he really knows what he talking about.

A quote from Reggie Fields:"There is not an official overall governing body. But there several groups which keep track of and organize file extensions to avoid conflicts"Don't you think you should be sure of your fact s before you blame Microsoft? Or do you believe what anyone tells you?

[mgh 89]

"The place where Microsoft made the biggest error in not registering the .AIR file extension is in the Windows Registry."What good would that have done?In XP (I have no experience of vista) any user can change the application associated with an extension and even create a new extension and association. A user need only open Windows Explorer then click Tools|Folder Options|File Types then click Advanced to change the association of an existing extension or click New to create a new extension and association.