Windows 7 - Adobe testing automatic updater for Reader, Acrobat.

Next week, Adobe Systems will begin testing new automatic software designed to make it easier for Reader and Acrobat users to keep their products up-to-date.

The company will begin a beta test of its new updater, called the Adobe Reader/Acrobat Updater, with next week's critical security updates, due Jan. 12, said Brad Arkin, Adobe's director of product security and privacy.

The Adobe Updater was quietly installed on users' systems back in October 2009, but it is being turned on for the first time during next week's beta test. If everything goes well, Reader and Acrobat users on Macintosh and Windows computers will be offered the new update mechanism as a default option with the company's next security update, currently scheduled for release on April 13.