Talk:PDFgear - Wikiwand

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	This article was accepted from this draft on 30 December 2025 by reviewer Aviationwikiflight (talk · contribs).

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Hi reviewers of this draft.

Hi reviewers of this draft. I've removed all the AI-generated content by rewording it, and added a part introducing its features, which should make this topic more reliable. If there are any specific issues, please let me know. Thank you for your review! Justin202210 (talk) 04:18, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

If you view the draft, you'll see that every single reference has an error. Greenman (talk) 10:30, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

Proposed Update: Reception, Security Allegations, and Independent Audit

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Proposed Update: Reception, Security Allegations, and Independent Audit

Hello reviewers. I would like to propose a new, balanced section for the PDFgear article to cover its general reception, as well as a notable security controversy that took place between late 2025 and early 2026.

To ensure strict adherence to WP:NPOV and WP:RS, this draft includes positive reviews from mainstream tech media (Gizmodo), objectively describes the malware-like behavior concerns raised by online communities (which led to its absence from the Microsoft Store), and concludes with the developer's technical explanation and the direct results of an independent security audit by Cure53.

Suggested location: Create a new section titled "Reception and security" at the bottom of the page.

Suggested text to add:

Reception and security

PDFgear has received generally positive reviews from technology publications for its free feature set and offline capabilities. Gizmodo praised the software for being a lightweight, all-in-one PDF management platform, highlighting its built-in OCR technology, offline privacy protection, and the lack of a paywall for core features.

In late 2025 and early 2026, PDFgear became the subject of security allegations within online forums, such as Reddit, where users and automated sandbox platforms expressed concerns that the software's Windows installer exhibited malware-like behaviors. These claims centered around activities such as code injection, registry modifications, and the silent installation of root certificates. Concurrently, the application became temporarily unavailable on the Microsoft Store.

The developers of PDFgear issued official statements denying the allegations. They clarified that the flagged behaviors were standard technical operations—such as the use of Inno Setup for the installation process and standard Windows APIs for keyboard shortcuts—and characterized the claims as a coordinated disinformation campaign.

To definitively address the security concerns, PDFgear commissioned an independent security assessment by the German cybersecurity firm Cure53. Following a technical analysis conducted in early 2026, Cure53 published a penetration test and code audit report on March 19, 2026, concluding that "no malicious functionality was identified within the analyzed components of the PDFgear Windows client."

References to add:

[1]
"Download PDFgear (free) for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and Web App". Gizmodo. 2026-03-23. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
[2]
"PDFgear's Statement on the Organised Spread of Disinformation". PDFgear. 2026-03-24. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
[3]
"PDFgear Official Security Statement and Legal Notice". PDFgear. 2026-03-24. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
[4]
"Review-Report PDFgear Desktop App & Codebase" (PDF). Cure53. 2026-03-19. Retrieved 2026-04-08.

Freddy lai0401 (talk) 09:19, 8 April 2026 (UTC)

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