Adobe reader update adds mystery auto-start app

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December brought updates for Adobe Reader (and Acrobat). The update also brought a mystery run-once entry that took me some time to track down.

WinPatrol flagged up that a new run-once app was trying to insert itself, and “did I approve this new registry entry?”. It gave no clue as to the publisher, there was no information on the WinPatrol database, and it was referenced only by a random number, 1418214625 on its first attempt to climb onboard, 1418227058 on the second attempt. I saw similar behaviour on my wife’s machine; her random number was 1418217960.

In the end, I allowed WinPatrol to accept it, and then immediately disabled it, so it has never “run once”. It was trying to get into this location HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunOnce, and turns out to be Adobe Speed Launcher.

This thread on the Adobe Reader community forum adds a bit more from mystified users: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1654402

Dear Adobe – why could you not be a little more upfront about this app, why could you not disclose that you were the publisher, what’s the big mystery? You don’t get on my machine with as little information as you gave me.

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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WOW! JF you make me all the more happy that I dumped Adobe Reader when version 9 first came out. It was growing exponentially, every version being much larger than the version before that. Why all that bloat, to just read PDF files….which is the only thing most people depend on it for.

So I went on a quest, for a smaller and faster PDF reader that wouldn’t try to take over my PC.

Voila, I found it! “Foxit Reader”. Small, fast and FREE. What’s not to LOVE?
When my customers complain to me about Adobe Reader constantly wanting to update, I dump it and install Foxit Reader for them. End of Problem.

Just a suggestion!

Happy Holidays!

The Doctor

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The question is how do you handle programs or websites that look for Adobe reader to open files. I tried reassigning default program to foxit but the program would not run because Adobe was not present.
By the way, your info rocks and I love your avatar.

WOW! JF you make me all the more happy that I dumped Adobe Reader when version 9 first came out. It was growing exponentially, every version being much larger than the version before that. Why all that bloat, to just read PDF files….which is the only thing most people depend on it for.

So I went on a quest, for a smaller and faster PDF reader that wouldn’t try to take over my PC.

Voila, I found it! “Foxit Reader”. Small, fast and FREE. What’s not to LOVE?
When my customers complain to me about Adobe Reader constantly wanting to update, I dump it and install Foxit Reader for them. End of Problem.

Just a suggestion!

Happy Holidays!

The Doctor

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Doc,

Looked into Foxit Reader and apparently the newest version contains PUP and other bloatware. Many reviewers are not happy with the current version and are going back to Adobe Reader. Any comments? I’d like to switch, but do not want to if it is no longer a “clean” program.

Jim

PS: I’d be interested in other Foxit Reader users (of the most current version) opinions…

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Doc,

Looked into Foxit Reader and apparently the newest version contains PUP and other bloatware. Many reviewers are not happy with the current version and are going back to Adobe Reader. Any comments? I’d like to switch, but do not want to if it is no longer a “clean” program.

Jim

PS: I’d be interested in other Foxit Reader users (of the most current version) opinions…

Hey akjudge,
I’ve used Foxit Reader for years. As to your concern over PUP and bloatware with newer versions… Nothing new here. One always has to be vigilant when installing any freeware, as they almost always come with unwanted add-on crap. But that stuff can usually be de-selected in the setup routine, assuming you you pay attention and always select the ‘custom’ install method.

Unfortunately, you do not get an option to de-select ‘Foxit Cloud.’ I recently contacted Foxit and complained that an opt-out for ‘Cloud’ was not available in the setup. They immediately responded in agreement, and said that they would submit my idea for consideration in the next build. So we’ll see… Meanwhile, it’s really not a big deal to remove ‘Cloud’ via ‘Add/Remove’ after the fact. Bottom line, contact them yourselves and express your opinions. That’s the only way anything ever gets done. I’m always watching, but for now, Foxit is still the best option IMO.

R.C.

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Unfortunately, you do not get an option to de-select ‘Foxit Cloud.’

R.C.

I downloaded Foxit and uninstalled the cloud program. We will see how it works out.

thanks,
Jim

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Jim,

I recently installed FoxIt on several machines and not a sign of unwanted software. Be careful where you get your download make sure it’s the Official FoxIt site! HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Thanks for the posts in reply. I use Adobe Reader as my reader as I also use Acrobat for creating, and more importantly, editing PDFs, adding forms, etc. This last is a critical activity.

There is so much animus against Adobe Reader (see this thread, and many others) that I wonder whether anyone has installed, for example, Foxit Reader, on the same machine as Adobe Acrobat. I suspect that the results would be unpredictable, to say the least. Or, do I not need Adobe Reader at all, and just use Acrobat as my reader (even bigger footprint!)?

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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Thanks for the posts in reply. I use Adobe Reader as my reader as I also use Acrobat for creating, and more importantly, editing PDFs, adding forms, etc. This last is a critical activity.

There is so much animus against Adobe Reader (see this thread, and many others) that I wonder whether anyone has installed, for example, Foxit Reader, on the same machine as Adobe Acrobat. I suspect that the results would be unpredictable, to say the least. Or, do I not need Adobe Reader at all, and just use Acrobat as my reader (even bigger footprint!)?

I have Acrobat 9.5 installed, and I use that for reading PDF files as well as editing them, creating them, etc. I do not have Adobe Reader installed. I have no problems there. I use Foxit reader within Windows XP Mode on my Win 7 machine – no probelms there either.
Paul

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I’ve been using Sumatra PDF reader for years now. If all you want or need to do is read PDF’s, Sumatra is a great little app.

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Thanks for the posts in reply. I use Adobe Reader as my reader as I also use Acrobat for creating, and more importantly, editing PDFs, adding forms, etc. This last is a critical activity.

There is so much animus against Adobe Reader (see this thread, and many others) that I wonder whether anyone has installed, for example, Foxit Reader, on the same machine as Adobe Acrobat. I suspect that the results would be unpredictable, to say the least. Or, do I not need Adobe Reader at all, and just use Acrobat as my reader (even bigger footprint!)?

My wife has installed both Acrobat Reader (which she tries to keep current) and the full Acrobat product (but backlevel; v8, I think?). She has had recurring problems from the fistfights these two get into.

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Jim,

I recently installed FoxIt on several machines and not a sign of unwanted software. Be careful where you get your download make sure it’s the Official FoxIt site! HTH :cheers:

The last time I installed Foxit, it automatically installed Foxit Cloud and an update service, neither of which I wanted. I ditched it and tried PDF Xchange, which I now prefer.

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The last time I installed Foxit, it automatically installed Foxit Cloud and an update service, neither of which I wanted. I ditched it and tried PDF Xchange, which I now prefer.

Which kind of makes it as bad as Acrobat.

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The last time I installed Foxit, it automatically installed Foxit Cloud and an update service, neither of which I wanted. I ditched it and tried PDF Xchange, which I now prefer.

Yep to the Foxit Cloud and update issue. If I got anymore “help” and “features” from stuff that should just (and used to) be basic utility software I would just croak.

Also, it was unbelievable the number of registry entries Foxit had made. Fortunately, Revo Uninstaller did a pretty good job of identifying them and allowing me to delete them but I was still left with one or two items related to printer ports (NA02?) that I left alone. Didn’t have any fall-out in printing from Adobe Reader which I went back to so “good enough”.

I’m not really an Adobe Reader fan either but its universality makes it a realistic choice. I have not looked at PDF Xchange but thanks, I will.

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The last time I installed Foxit, it automatically installed Foxit Cloud and an update service, neither of which I wanted. I ditched it and tried PDF Xchange, which I now prefer.

Ditto, I too used Foxit for a while but then switched to PDFxchange and like it better. Of course YMMV, but never use one of those “download sites” always get free software from the source: http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer

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I’m not sure why you think it would create problems. If you create a PDF with Acrobat, then it’s a PDF. If you then read that PDF it should be visible – wethter you use Foxit Reader, Adobe Reader or any other. Same as creating JPGs in Photoshop and viewing them in the Gimp, Picasa, et al.

I suggest you give it a whirl – it will be interesting to see if there are problems and you can always revert if necessary. But it’s up to you.

P.S. I think the animus is with Adobe rather than just Reader – but far more people use Reader…

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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You can get rid of Foxit Cloud via a separate entry in Programs and Features but I understand your frustration that they snuck it in with no option to disable it.

Jerry

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I also use PDF Xchange now, awhile back, my Adobe Reader failed to load, couldn’t fix it.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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Is there any reason why this can’t just be disabled with CCleaner? Adobe Reader always loaded fine with out it. I’ve disabled it before in ver. 7 on an older XP machine. I’ll find out, I just disabled it. I’ll let you know if there’s a problem.

Thanks for bringing this up I was wondering about it since it appeared.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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To answer my own question: CCleaner appears to disable the Adobe Speed Launcher, but then somehow it gets re-enabled. Wow. Next step – remove? It’s not causing me any grief or problems so I guess I’ll leave it be for now.

Being 20 something in the 70's was far more fun than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Whilst I prefer Foxit Reader to Adobe Reader (speed of opening, tabbed windows, features), it annoys me that Foxit Cloud gets automatically installed… and, after I’ve removed it, automatically re-installed with every automatic update to Foxit Reader.

Foxit Reader used to be quite small (35-40 Mb) but the latest version now weighs in at 106 Mb installed. Still a lot smaller than Adobe Reader XI (183 Mb installed).

Hawk – Thanks for mentioning SumatraPDF. I just checked it out and the portable version is just 6 Mb. I’ve just used it to open a PDF, a MOBI file and an EPUB. Very impressive! It’s now joined my USB stick of portable utilities.

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Just wondering why Nitro PDF Reader (https://www.gonitro.com/pdf-reader) is hardly ever mentioned as a viable replacement to Adobe Reader. I have been using it without a hitch for several years now on both XP & Win 7 boxes.

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I just went to the link you gave for Nitro and found out you have to give them a first and last name and email address just to download it.
I generally avoid doing that.
I’ve probably been to that website in the past but quickly forgot about it for that reason. That may be why it’s not mentioned much.

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Is that too much of a price to pay for FREE software?

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Sumatra is 5.41 MB installed, but as I mentioned, it’s just a simple PDF reader without many frills.

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Thanks for Sumatra. It seems like a nice compact PDF reader without the crap that so many other free programs foist on us. I tried it on a few PDF’s and it worked great.

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I will repeat here, what I tell all my Computer customers, about downloading software.

With few exceptions, when you download almost any program, you will find at least one and possibly 6 or more little windows that offer you something other than the ONE program that you’re trying to get. You MUST READ every word of every line in those ad boxes and say “NO” or “Decline” or something to that effect, meaning you don’t want the CRAP, just the program that you went there for in the first place.

It didn’t used to be that way though…… you could go to a website and download a program or even a driver without wading through a quagmire of PUPs.
(Possibly Unwanted Programs)

I download a lot of software, so I deal with the PUPs every day.

You really need to stay on your toes, to avoid the pitfalls of downloading software.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

The Doctor

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I’ve learned this the hard way.

In a nutshell, if you’re getting a product for free, then YOU are the product; expect to be bought and sold. This goes double for phone apps.

If anybody knows whether these alternatives (Foxit, PDF XChange, Sumatra) force PUPs on you without allowing opt-out (however subtly), please speak up! That would be an unforgivable offense, in my book.

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For years I had both Adobe and Foxit Reader on my computer and had no problems using either (there was no conflict, nor would I expect one). When Foxit added the few additional features (eg signing) that Adobe had, I uninstalled Adobe which was now simply taking up space and was needing constant updates. A Foxit update installed a trial of their pdf product (Phantom, I think) without permission and I uninstalled it, turning to Nitro, and when asked why on the uninstall web page, I told Foxit. Shortly after I tried it again and Foxit had learned, offering the trial as an option to be easily unchecked, even on an update. I am now using Foxit Reader happily again without Adobe.

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If anybody knows whether these alternatives (Foxit, PDF XChange, Sumatra) force PUPs on you without allowing opt-out (however subtly), please speak up! That would be an unforgivable offense, in my book.

Here’s a screenshot of the Options screen when installing Sumatra.

38746-Sumatra

No pups with it. They also offer a portable/stand-alone version.

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I use Foxit reader and didn’t know I had cloud installed until I noticed the menu item, I had to register to use it – which I chose not to do. I’ve now uninstalled it and let them know I would prefer to be told of any extra programs with the ability to decline them if I wanted.

But it doesn’t seem particularly nasty – it at least is Foxit’s own ‘PUP’, unlike some of the others which try to take over things. I shall just look for the menu item should I get an update. Not an issue and the thing is, it’s free.

I wonder if paid for programs do this sort of thing.

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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Sumatra is also free.

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Foxit reader all the way….dump Adobe post-haste. If you ever have the need to highlight sections or otherwise annotate PDFs before forwarding them on you will find Foxit to be amazingly useful.

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There’s also security issues associated with Adobe Acrobat Reader that have plagued that app for a few years now. Every time Adobe issues a patch, hackers find more holes.
This might be due to Adobe trying to offer more than what is really necessary for a PDF reader, although i can’t say for sure. Just a hunch.

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I found this on the Adobe Forum. (https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1654402)
I really don’t like this (141….varies) behavior
I can only hope this post is true and something is done very soon!

“Dec 18, 2014 6:20 AM

Hi all,

Thank you for reporting this issue with the latest Adobe Reader 11.0.10 update. Our engineering team has been able to identify the cause of this issue and are investigating a potential fix for the same.

Please stay tuned for details of the resolution.

Regards,
Ashu Mittal
Adobe Systems “

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I found this on the Adobe Forum. (https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1654402)
I really don’t like this (141….varies) behavior
I can only hope this post is true and something is done very soon!…

It seems like Adobe stopped pushing out 11.0.10 after the fault became apparent. I have 11.0.10 on this PC after AR prompted to upgrade when 11.0.10 was first released, but my other seven systems still have 11.0.9 and are not prompting to upgrade. Nor have I seen customers’ computers prompting to upgrade to 11.0.10 since a few days after it was released.

I should add that I cannot recall ever having any significant problem with Adobe Reader itself, either on my own systems or on customers’ systems. Although, many customers have lost the ability to open PDFs from within their email program; but that is invariably caused by Windows’ file associations being messed up, not a problem caused by AR.

I often need to create PDF files, when I compose the file in MS Word then convert it to PDF by printing to PrimoPDF.

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I’m extremely anal about privacy. :rolleyes:

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I’m extremely anal about privacy. :rolleyes:

Which of course limits your ability to pay for anything.

Consequently, software choices are similarly limited.

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Which of course limits your ability to pay for anything.

Consequently, software choices are similarly limited.

I get by just fine. I don’t require a lot of stuff installed on my computer.
Sumatra doesn’t require any of that info to download or use it, and it suits my needs just fine.

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I get by just fine. I don’t require a lot of stuff installed on my computer.
Sumatra doesn’t require any of that info to download or use it, and it suits my needs just fine.

Ok, sumatra reader is just that, a reader, which fulfils its description. For me, I need an editor as well.

Nitro comes in a pro version only, which is free for two weeks then costs an amazing £100 !!! all other software seems to be a cut down version of a pro kit and costs a lot of money, Tracker Software Products own version is advertised as free, but you wont be able to edit PDF’s without paying $44. It seems anything free is limited in editing, or manipulating a PDF document.

I can edit PDf’s in Serifs own PagePlus, but of course you have to run the whole program to do that and its boot up time is not quick, its not cheap but a lot cheaper than many Publishing programs out there.

Seems like a .pdf document is an image file made from the original text and converting back to a text file is complicated, which is why it costs money to do so.

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Just updated Foxit Reader to 7.0.6.1126 and checked for Foxit Cloud and there it was where it wasnt before, but had to check in Program files as it wasnt listed in the Quick Start menu.
Used Revo to uninstall it and got directed to the “uninstall cloud html” site and a form to fill, “why uninstall it”? I told them basically to shove it or give us a cut down version that we can upgrade to a paid version in the future. It doesnt have to be expensive.

Have unistalled it and its PUP and looking into Sumatra as a possible choice. Their loss.

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As the OP, I have found it interesting, though not particularly helpful, to wade through everyone’s venting of their (mainly negative) opinions on this or that PDF reader program.

What I DID find helpful was Mapletrail’s link to the post from the Adobe forum, where Adobe admitted that they had, unwittingly, or perhaps carelessly, created a problem in the Windows version of the Reader 11.0.10 update, and that they were working on a solution. It sounds as if we must await an interim update from Adobe, outwith their normal three month update cycle.

Thank goodness for WinPatrol, mentioned by many posters, here and on Adobe forums, as the program that flagged up the unauthorised behaviour by Adobe’s poorly written program.

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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I dumped Foxit after it started installing extra, intrusive adware and such.

Sumatra works just fine, and without installing any worrisome, aggravating, sneaky software.

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@CWGKONG – Whilst I would agree with you about the unwanted inclusion of Foxit Cloud, I just turn the ads off in Foxit Reader (under Preferences).

38817-foxit-ads
Click to enlarge

Hope this helps…

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JohnFleming, you mentioned WinPatrol, it really works good, doesn’t it!?! I’ve used it for years! And, I added TaskCatcher later, been using that also for some time now. Concerning Adobe Reader – I’ve used it for years, and liked it. However, something somewhere was preventing it from reading any pdf file period. I could not solve the problem, probably it was not Adobe Reader that was causing the problem. Even my backup images had backed up the unbeknownstToMe problem. The only solution for me was to go with pdf x-change viewer, a work-around.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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Adobe has now posted a fix for this issue with Acrobat/Reader 11.0.10 and 10.1.13 update, it seems in response to our user complaints. :^_^: It is here:
http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/runonce-key-created-every-user.html

The following is just FYI:
For those who like to try and keep a step ahead of Adobe, user dsprout described a workaround in a post dated 9 Dec 2014 12:17 PM here:
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1654402
This workaround is currently redundant, due to the Adobe’s own fix. But if Adobe ever again update Adobe Reader so it creates a random name Adobe Speed Launcher process, the workaround might still do the trick. Note that it would have the side effect of ceasing to automatically update Adobe products (including Adobe Flash on Windows 7 or older, I think), so manual updates would be needed to prevent security issues.

Asus N53SM & N53SN 64-bit laptops (Win7 Pro & Win10 Pro 64-bit multiboots), venerable HP Pavilion t760 32-bit desktop (XP & Win7 Pro multiboot), Oracle VirtualBox VM's: XP & Win7 32-bit, XP Mode, aged Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2019s (8" & 10.1"), Blu-ray burners, digital cameras, ext. HDDs (latest 5TB!), AnyDVD, Easeus ToDo Backup Home, Waterfox, more. Me: Aussie card-carrying Windows geek.

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I’ve stayed with Acrobat for years now. I’ve long been in the habit, after any update, of clearing out the startup references in the registry.

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