Adobe Reader 940

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A day or so ago I downloaded the updater from FileHippo (I’ve used filehippo for a long time and I do trust them quite a bit as they do check the files for viruses and corruption before posting them to the site). I’ve tried several times in a row to install the update but, to no avail. It keeps telling me that something is using Adobe reader or acrobat. I tried disabling everything but, windows update: Literally deactivating Catalyst Control Center, Firefox, Opera, Comodo, Tomboy Notes, RoboForm, and I think maybe something else that was running in my taskbar (to many background programs to count). Other than Firefox and Opera none of those should have any hooks to Adobe but, nonetheless even after having disabled all of these it still says there’s something using Adobe Reader or Acrobat (and it of course won’t specify what). At this point I’m just giving up until such a time that it’s practical to restart my system.

I’m betting this is just a normal Windows bug similar to one I’ve run into before where something is ghosting access that has already been shut down (a process that was started by the operating system, is affecting the operating system, but is no longer controlled by the OS-or at least that’s my understanding). I’ve actually seen this kind of issue many times before on both my computer and others (including those I’ve never touched before). It could even be related to the classic issue of the print spooler not emptying (I see it frequently on my machines especially if I don’t wait before sending a document to print (physically)).

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I had no problems updating Adobe Reader from within Adobe Reader. Quick, easy & no new stuff installed with it.

Joe

--Joe

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I had no problems updating Adobe Reader from within Adobe Reader. Quick, easy & no new stuff installed with it.

Joe

Quick and easy but, that’s just one more thing that’s constantly running in the background (or at least another thing my computer would be looking for). I have quite a few programs that already have to be active to some extent at start because they include drivers and other such things. Some examples of this would be the connectify service which despite shutting it down before it still loads to some extent at startup (just the service apparently, not the actual program but, it doesn’t show up under services so I can’t shut it down), also my Firewall is of course always active and even if I shut down the main sweet it has certain processes always running in the background. There’s also quite a few other programs that are built into the OS like the indexer which is a bit overactive (then, that’s partially my fault for having it index Program Files). Overall there’s just too many things that run in the background for me to allow heavy automatic updaters and speed launchers running in the background. Besides that a lot of times the automatic updaters try to add stuff I don’t really care about whereas the downloadable installers will usually either give me a better choice or just not include some of the extra stuff. iTunes is a prime example of this as the Automatic updater will try to install stuff for managing my non-existent iProducts (I sometimes hook up a friends iPod and transfer music but, that’s the extent of it). It will also try to install the Safari browser which I tried and hated. Sometime I may try it again but, not until I’ve heard or seen something to prompt such a choice (such as it becoming more secure or faster than Opera or having more customization options than Firefox).

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Quick and easy but, that’s just one more thing that’s constantly running in the background (or at least another thing my computer would be looking for).

I always disable automatic update checking for Adobe Reader. It does not run automatically. When I see an update has been released, a day or two later I start Reader and use the builtin “check for update”.

Joe

--Joe

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Hi Gregory,

If you’re interested in tracking down the culprit I would suggest downloading a copy of Sysinternals Suite

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb842062.aspx

From there I would use the following applications to track what is attaching itself to the adobe related files.

Process Explorer and Process Monitor.

As a side note I like to use regularly the Adobe Customization Wizard 9 to create “better” Adobe installs without violating their EULA.

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3993

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Hi Gregory,

If you’re interested in tracking down the culprit I would suggest downloading a copy of Sysinternals Suite

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb842062.aspx

From there I would use the following applications to track what is attaching itself to the adobe related files.

Process Explorer and Process Monitor.

As a side note I like to use regularly the Adobe Customization Wizard 9 to create “better” Adobe installs without violating their EULA.

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3993

This post is more along the lines of what I was looking for. I got the process explorer and process monitor but, I’m a bit unsure what to search for in order to find what’s locking adobe down. I searched for handles with the name adobe in them but, to no avail and when I googled (adobe reader handle name) and (handle name adobe reader) I couldn’t figure what the handle would be called. I didn’t bother downloading the full suite, if I need anything else from the suite I’ll just download it separately. (My internal and external hard drive are both getting a bit full and I can’t afford to buy a new one right now. In fact programs like this one that can be run as standalone I tend to place on an SD card so I can 1: keep less data on my internal, and 2: use the programs on other computers).

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This post is more along the lines of what I was looking for. I got the process explorer and process monitor but, I’m a bit unsure what to search for in order to find what’s locking adobe down. I searched for handles with the name adobe in them but, to no avail and when I googled (adobe reader handle name) and (handle name adobe reader) I couldn’t figure what the handle would be called.

A “handle” is essentially what is attaching itself to adobe related file in this case it could either be another piece of software and or system process. To find the particular file which is being ‘held’ you would probably be best using Process Monitor if you have been unable to guess the file in use. It may be an Adobe executable/dll/plugin/ini configuration file etc.

Process Monitor can be a little overwhelming to start with as it can present so much information ‘live’ on the system tracking fille/registry changes for the most part. I would suggest running Process Monitor and then attempting to update then when it errors out stop Process Monitor from logging and review the information.

This information can be generalised to solve various problems so it is completely up to if you would like to delve deeper into troubleshooting the issue. Because it may be just as easy to uninstall Adobe Acrobat Reader and download the full installer and be done with it

These installers are fully “off-line” and do not require the Adobe DLM.

EXE http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/9.x/9.4.0/en_US/AdbeRdr940_en_US.exe

MSI http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/9.x/9.4.0/en_US/AdbeRdr940_en_US.msi

I didn’t bother downloading the full suite, if I need anything else from the suite I’ll just download it separately. (My internal and external hard drive are both getting a bit full and I can’t afford to buy a new one right now. In fact programs like this one that can be run as standalone I tend to place on an SD card so I can 1: keep less data on my internal, and 2: use the programs on other computers).

The Sysinternals Suite is approximately 12 megabytes in size. Definitely worth having in your toolkit.

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