May I vent about how much I hate Adobe Acrobat Reader please?

[RonTheGuy]

For years I've been using an older copy of the Adobe Acrobat Writer.
A year or two ago, I needed the Adobe Acrobat Reader once.
I needed it to read a newer-PDF format.
I never made the reader my default PDF reader.

Ever since then, Adobe keeps installing updates to the reader.
I know this because on my desktop shows up this black eye of the icon.

I though I deleted the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
But it keeps coming back.

What is Adobe doing to make the Reader keep coming back.
I don't really mind it on my system as long as they leave it alone.

Why can't Adobe leave me be with my older version of Acrobat writer?

Why does Adobe keep forcing the useless reader on me every few months?
And changing my defaults so that I have to set them back to the writer?

What is wrong with Adobe that they can't respect your wishes?

Ron, the humblest guy in town.

[gtr]

On 2023-04-05 09:41:17 +0000, RonTheGuy said:

> What is wrong with Adobe that they can't respect your wishes?

Two products you never want to install on Windows are the Adobe acrobat
product and the paint shop pro product.

If you really want to see a mess of your clean setup, install PSP.
Then uninstall PSP.

Then spend the rest of your life trying to figure out how to undo all teh
menu crap that PSP leaves behind.

Rule of them is those two products are probably the worst.
Unless someone knows of even worse behaved products than adobe & psp?

[Bill]

On 4/5/2023 12:41 PM, RonTheGuy wrote:
> For years I've been using an older copy of the Adobe Acrobat Writer.
> A year or two ago, I needed the Adobe Acrobat Reader once.
> I needed it to read a newer-PDF format.
> I never made the reader my default PDF reader.
>
> Ever since then, Adobe keeps installing updates to the reader.
> I know this because on my desktop shows up this black eye of the icon.
>
> I though I deleted the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
> But it keeps coming back.
>
> What is Adobe doing to make the Reader keep coming back.
> I don't really mind it on my system as long as they leave it alone.

I've noticed the same thing. I don't need a link to it on my desktop,
but every once in a while, I notice a new one there. If you find an
effective way to manage this, you'll probably please lots of people!

[Richard]

[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]

RonTheGuy <r...@null.invalid> spake the secret code
<1eef84q9...@news.solani.org> thusly:

>A year or two ago, I needed the Adobe Acrobat Reader once.
>I needed it to read a newer-PDF format.
>I never made the reader my default PDF reader.

I've been happy using SumatraPDF as my reader.

Out of curiosity, what reader do you have set as your default PDF reader?
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[Paul]

On 4/5/2023 12:41 PM, RonTheGuy wrote:

"Adobe Refresh Manager" or ARM, an updater that can update itself.
The service is the evil bit, that keeps it alive. Like a malware would.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns

autoruns64.exe # lists stuff

Adobe Acrobat Update Task Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager Adobe Inc.
c:\program files (x86)\common files\adobe\arm\1.0\adobearm.exe 2/1/2023 8:44 PM

AdobeARMservice Adobe Acrobat Updater keeps your Adobe software up to date.
Adobe Inc.
c:\program files (x86)\common files\adobe\arm\1.0\armsvc.exe 2/1/2023 8:43 PM

*******

Even the updater, updates itself, judging by date stamp.
The MSI is the installer for the Updater.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\Cache
Name: Arm_018244601042_3410575711391224984732579583162061827.msi
Size: 1058816 bytes (1034 KiB)
SHA1: E6E5E9F7B299A95983D5AC6D90BFEC8F3AD67D70

Title: Adobe Refresh Manager

The number 76E2369A-75BA-41F9-8B9E-16059E5CF9A6 , you may find other bits of that (CLSID?)
elsewhere in the Registry. While this is part of the evil, this isn't necessarily all of it.

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{76E2369A-75BA-41F9-8B9E-16059E5CF9A6}\Policy•#3•SZ
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{76E2369A-75BA-41F9-8B9E-16059E5CF9A6}\AppPath•[ARM_1.0]•SZ
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{76E2369A-75BA-41F9-8B9E-16059E5CF9A6}\AppName•AdobeARM.exe•SZ

*******

https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-delete-adobearmservice.html

# Open an Administrator shell. You will be removing the executables, including the MSI file.

sc.exe stop AdobeARMservice
sc.exe delete AdobeARMservice

del "%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\"

Maybe that will cripple it a little bit, unless... Acrobat Reader installer
is run again. Then, it will come back of course. Like a skin disease.

Paul

[sticks]

On 4/5/2023 12:37 PM, Paul wrote:

> https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/how-to-delete-adobearmservice.html
>
>    # Open an Administrator shell. You will be removing the executables,
> including the MSI file.
>
>    sc.exe stop AdobeARMservice
>    sc.exe delete AdobeARMservice
>
>    del "%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\"

FWIW, I got a "cannot find/path does not exist" error.
I went in manually and deleted it.

[RonTheGuy]

On Apr 05, 2023, Richard wrote
(in article<news:u0kaa5$20hse$1...@news.xmission.com>):

> Out of curiosity, what reader do you have set as your default PDF reader?

I looked in Win+I > apps > default apps and was surprised it's not there
Email = Thunderbird
Maps = none
Music player = MPC-BE x64
Photo viewer = IrfanView 64-bit
Video player = VLC media player
Web browser = Epic Privacy Browser

Looking for where the PDF defaults are set I saw below those
Choose default apps by file type
Choose default apps by protocol
Set default by app
Recommended browser settings (what is that doing there?)

Pressing on "Choose default apps by file type" I scrolled down the
alphabetical listing of filename extensions to see these are set

Ron, the humblest guy in town.

PDF File (.pdf) = Foxit Reader 9.3
Foxit Reader PPDF Document (.ppdf) = Foxit Reader 9.3 (what is that?)
PostScript (.ps) = gsview64.exe

Clicking on "Set default by app" I first checked out the Foxit Reader
FDF file (.fdf) = Choose a default
PDF File (.pdf) = Foxit Reader 9.3
Foxit Reader PPDF Document (.ppdf) = Foxit Reader 9.3
XDP file (.xdp) = Choose a default
XFDF file (.xfdf) = Choose a default
FOXITREADER = Choose a default

[Paul]

Start a Terminal. It starts in PowerShell:

Install the latest PowerShell for new features and improvements! https://aka.ms/PSWindows

PS> cd "%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\"
cd : Cannot find path

Now, we launch Command Prompt instead:

PS> cmd
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22621.1413]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\ > cd /d "%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\"

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM>

*******

That means the expansion only works in Command Prompt.

The "cd /d" allows presentation of an absolute path, as
a source for a change of directory. Then the

%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%

gets expanded in Command Prompt, to the value list in "set".

ProgramFiles(x86) = C:\Program Files (x86)

Paul

[sticks]

Yes, that works. Thanks for the info!

[Richard Jones]

On 05/04/2023 18:14, Richard wrote:
> [Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]
>
> RonTheGuy <r...@null.invalid> spake the secret code
> <1eef84q9...@news.solani.org> thusly:
>
>> A year or two ago, I needed the Adobe Acrobat Reader once.
>> I needed it to read a newer-PDF format.
>> I never made the reader my default PDF reader.
>
> I've been happy using SumatraPDF as my reader.
>
> Out of curiosity, what reader do you have set as your default PDF reader?

Thanks for the Sumatra PDF suggestion. Now installed in place of the
ages old acrobat reader I had been using.

[Ken Blake]

I used to use Sumatra and I think it's a pretty good choice. But I now
use Foxit Reader, which I think is even better.

Don't take my word for it. but I do recommend that you try it and
decide for yourself which you like better.

[Richard]

[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]

Ken Blake <K...@invalid.news.com> spake the secret code
<01sa3i9ft3b96vse5...@4ax.com> thusly:

>I used to use Sumatra and I think it's a pretty good choice. But I now
>use Foxit Reader, which I think is even better.

My only complaint with Sumatra is that it sizes the current page based
on the widest page in the document when I say "fit to width".

Many document scanners now "autodetect" a landscape oriented page in a
portrait document and rotate the page. So in a document with hundreds
of pages, all the portrait pages get forced to shrink in the viewer
because there is one landscape oriented page in the document.

Personally, I turn this off when I'm scanning documents, but I can't
control what other people do when they scan documents.