AcrobatInfo.exe is as bad as a Virus – How to remove it

eddie — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:16:43 +0000

I’ve noticed that my older laptop running Windows XP has gotten much slower when browsing files in Windows Explorer.

I did some research and found that every time I did anything within the Windows Explorer shell, a process called AcrobatInfo.exe was firing up, eating up system resources, and just generally slowing things down. The result was a lag of about 2 seconds whenever I moved my mouse over any document – not just PDF files. Any document whatsoever.

Seems that Adobe snuck this AcrobatInfo.exe file into one of its automatic updates, without asking. It slows down my whole computer. It runs when I’m not even using PDF files. If you delete the file, it magically comes back. Adobe doesn’t care that this thing is hosing up my whole computer, and that I don’t want it. If any other company did this it’d be termed malware or a virus. But because it’s Adobe, they somehow get a free pass.

This thing is a pain in the butt to get rid of, too. Thankfully, I found a step by step guide here.

In relevant part, you need to delete the following registry keys:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Components\21C0FC0AB3C24344FB30C34266AA5E09]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{98D9A6F1-4696-4B5E-A2E8-36B3F9C1E12C}]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\AcrobatInfo.exe]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Low Rights\ElevationPolicy\{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000002}]

Change the value of these keys to false:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AcroExch.Document]
“BrowseInPlace”=-
[ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AcroExch.Document.7]
“BrowseInPlace”=-

And unregister the shell extension “service”

regsvr32 pathTo\pdfshell.dll /u

For me, the path to the PDFshell.dll file was :

regsvr32 “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\pdfshell.dll”

How to Speed up Adobe Acrobat Reader and PDF file opening

eddie — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 01:39:30 +0000

Dumb Little Man found this little tidbit at DWTips that I wanted to pass along. (and offer my own alternative solution as well.)

DW Writes:

Every time you run Adobe Acrobat up to 20 plugins are loaded unnecessarily – most users do not need even a fraction of them!

To disable unneeded plugins and make them optional instead, follow these instructions:

1. Install the latest version of Adobe Acrobat – you can get it here
2. Browse to the plugins folder: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\plug_ins
3. Create a new folder named Optional
4. Move all files from the plug_ins folder to Optional, except EWH32.api, print*.api, and Search*.api

That’s it! Load any PDF in Adobe Acrobat to see the difference!

That is indeed a great tip – Adobe Acrobat has to be the slowest, most bloated piece of crap software in computing history. There is nothing worse that unknowingly clicking on a link to a PDF file only to have your browser lock up for 15 seconds while it loads up 50 Meg+ Adobe Acrobat.

Better Solution: Get rid of Adobe Acrobat Reader
I’ve been unable to personally try the above tip because my computers all have a strict “No-Adobe-Software” policy in place. Which brings me to my preferred, alternate solution – get rid of Adobe Acrobat. You don’t need it. There is a company out there called Foxit Software that makes a small, free, and fast PDF reader called (you guessed it) Foxit Reader.

The Foxit Reader is under one Megabyte in size (take that Adobe), and it allows you to easily type right into any document and to easily select and copy text. Adobe Acrobat Reader, on the other hand, is over 50 times as large, doesn’t do either of those tasks very well, and it constantly “phones home” to Adobe, which slows things down even more.

So unless your employer forces you to use Adobe, I recommend that you ditch it and go with Foxit. You won’t be sorry that you did.

If you’re interested in my other software recommendations, click here.

Eddie On Everything » acrobat

AcrobatInfo.exe is as bad as a Virus – How to remove it

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