Adobe Acrobat is taking over my computer

[igorcarajo]

A while back I installed Adobe Acrobat version 7 on my XP computer.
Recently I found a folder called "Adobe PDF" in the "Shared Documents"
folder, so I decided to delete it. Well, after doing that, I
double-clicked on a completely unrelated folder on my desktop and this
Adobe Acrobat dialog pops up on my screen to tell me that Acrobat is
configuring itself and what not. Then the "Adobe PDF" folder shows up
again in the Shared Documents. How in the hell is this Adobe
application able to intercept me double-clicking a folder? And how do I
prevent it from doing so? I did some more testing and after deleting
the "Adobe PDF" folder, any action triggers this, like double-clicking
on any file or folder. This is very annoying. I really don't like
applications hanging out in the shadows and doing "stuff" behind my
back. Is this something related to shell explorer extensions? I looked
in the registry at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\, but I don't see anything
called "Adobe" or "Acrobat" in there. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Guest]

that is odd. does the folder disappear when you unistall acrobat7? is the
folder holding pdf files like a cache or is it an "installation folder"?

if acrobat is somehow reinstalling itself, then it would automatically
recreate the folder in order to place the install /setup files.


--
~~~~~~~~~~

~
"To be a 0 or is it to be the 1 ?
That is the data".......W.Gatespeare

 

[igorcarajo]

I haven't tried uninstalling Acrobat because I'll need it in the
future. The folder "Adobe PDF" in question has several files with .ps
and .joboptions extensions. If I delete that folder, then the very next
time that I double-click anything, it seems like Acrobat attempts to
re-install itself and it creates the same folder again. Now why in the
world would Acrobat need to hardwire itself to the action of opening
anything other than PDF documents?

Am I at least on the right path in looking at the registry in
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\?

 

[Tom Willett]

Why are you not asking Adobe support?

I haven't tried uninstalling Acrobat because I'll need it in the
future. The folder "Adobe PDF" in question has several files with .ps
and .joboptions extensions. If I delete that folder, then the very next
time that I double-click anything, it seems like Acrobat attempts to
re-install itself and it creates the same folder again. Now why in the
world would Acrobat need to hardwire itself to the action of opening
anything other than PDF documents?

Am I at least on the right path in looking at the registry in
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\?

 

[igorcarajo]

What are the chances that Adobe will answer the phone and say "sure,
the way you prevent Acrobat from being a freaking parasite to your
operative system is by going to the registry, find the key called..."?

That's why.

 

[Guest]

it understandable that you need adobe. But adobe is a free program. I
suggest you uninstall it, reboot, and see if the prblem still exists.

but it sounds like the extension .ps is a post script file that is linked /
related to a printer driver of some sort. If you don't have a post script
printer then you don't need the driver.

if you don't have that problem anymore then your copy of adobe was the
culprit.

if you still have the problem then you have somekind of software that is
causing you the headache so you can then begin the process of elimination.

You can always reinstall adobe because it is free from the adobe site. I
wouldn't download it from any other site since it could be sabatoged.....

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Looks like Adobe Acrobat on-demand installation (or perhaps due to Windows
installer resilency feature) is taking place. You may try this question in
Adobe User forums.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


What are the chances that Adobe will answer the phone and say "sure,
the way you prevent Acrobat from being a freaking parasite to your
operative system is by going to the registry, find the key called..."?

That's why.

 

[igorcarajo]

Adobe Acrobat is not a free program. Acrobat Reader is.

 

[igorcarajo]

What bothers me is not so much that Acrobat on-demand installation or
Windows installer is kicking in. What bothers me is that it kicks in
when I launch any application or try to open any file of any kind. Why
does Acrobat need to re-install itself every time I launch Mozilla
Firefox?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Adobe Acrobat is not a free program. Acrobat Reader is.

Yes, but a little clarification on the terminilogy here wouldn't hurt. I
wouldn't want someone to get confused by the names and look for the wrong
thing.

Databaseben says "adobe is a free program." Adobe isn't any program at all,
it's a company that makes many different programs.

One program that Adobe makes is Adobe Acrobat, and that is probably the one
databaseben is referring to. Acrobat is used to both create and read pdf
files. As you say, it is not a free program.

Another program Adobe makes is Adobe Reader. It is not called "Adobe Acrobat
Reader" (although it used to be called that, in earlier versions). This
permits reading pdf files, but not creating them. As you say, it is free.