I have posted this question in Adobe’s message boards, but they’re a complete mess and I doubt I’ll find resolution there. I’m really hoping someone here can help. I’m in the middle of a job search online and desperately need Adobe to be able to open several files. I have version 3.0 already on the computer, but that doesn’t seem to be recent enough to be recognized and used to open the files. Please help!!
I am attempting to download Adobe Reader version 7.0, but can’t. It seems to get near the end of the installation process then is forced to quit because it doesn’t have access to this file which I can’t find myself:
It asks that I verify my access to the file or contact my support personelle. Well since this is a home computer, I don’t have support, only this board to help me.
I have a Dell Computer and use Windows XP Home Edition.
You can still get 5.0 and 6.0 at Adobe’s download page. I use 5.0 at home and 6.0 at the office. The office machine (Win2k) froze up, repeatedly, when I tried to install 7.0. Occasionally a popup will state I need a newer version to view pages properly, but I haven’t found that to be true.
Thanks so much for the link. I hadn’t realized that Firefox put out a pdf reader, or even that there were any alternatives at all to Adobe. So far it’s working out great. It was a really easy download, too.
Thanks for the suggestion. I just automatically went for the newest version, assuming it must be the best. Foxit is working out well for me for now though. Unless I encounter any major problems, I plan to just stick with it.
I remember having a similar problem some time last year, although I was just trying to upgrade from v.5. I then downloaded v.6 and installed it. After that, downloading and installing v.7 was a breeze.
The two similar experiences tend to make me believe that there are some essential files or something in v.6 that v.7 (presumably what’s available at the Adobe site is an upgrade, and not a full version) needs in order to install. Or something like that. It doesn’t make much sense to me. OTOH, it’s a huge file…
Although being a Microsoft user would accustom you to believe otherwise, most file formats are openly documented and can therefore be read by multiple programs. PDF is such a format, so (contrary to popular belief) you do not actually need Acrobat Reader to view it. I would have recommended Ghostscript, but it sounds like Foxit is a decent program too.
The path that the installer is giving you is actually a registry key. To find it, go to Start->Run and type regedit. My guess is that you just need to delete something, but I’m not a Windows expert so I can’t really say.
Part of the problem here is that Adobe’s download and installation manager is a piece of buggy crapware; if possible, download the full installable program (it’s sometimes really hard to actually find this on their site) or install it from a magazine cover CD or some such, where you’re expressly getting a standalone install.
Heh. I found a copy of the Adobe Acrobat 4.0 install on an old magazine demo CD. Installed that and everything works like a breeze now. Loads up in half a second instead of half a minute like the newer versions do.