How to disable the Adobe Acrobat Reader automatic updates
The ability of software to update itself, or download a new and improved version of itself is something I've always liked. Not only is it the easiest way to get the latest version and protect yourself against new vulnerabilities or bugs, it's also an indication that the developer(s) are actively developing this program.
So far so good - but there's one thing that bugs me like crazy: software that decides to update on it's own, without my permission. Unfortunately, Acrobat Reader is among the worst of them...
Call me old-fashioned, but I still like to have a notion of control over my own machine, including if and when I download an update. Now it's precisely this level of control Acrobat Reader took away from me a while ago.
Everytime I tried to read a .pdf file on the internet, I'd see the little update icon appear in the lower right corner of my screen. No matter what settings I tried, I couldn't stop the annoying thing from checking for an update, which only made me more inclined to stop it from doing so.
Fortunately, Adobe realised this, and soon they posted a solution on their website. There's no need for registry edits, obscure hacks or whatever - here's the quickest and simplest solution to stop the updater once and for all:
- Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\Updater5 on Windows XP or …\[username]\AppData\Local\Adobe\Updater5 on Vista and open AdobeUpdaterPrefs.dat in your favourite text editor (Notepad, for example).
- Change 1 to 0.
- Should this line not exist, simply add the line with a value of 0 anywhere between the tags.
... and you're done! It's as simple as that, but it can save you a lot of annoyance.
Oh and Adobe, next time you write an update routine - make sure it notices it's being blocked by a firewall, so it doesn't just sit there, waiting among all the other icons, like a sad, lost puppy...