# Why won't Adobe Acrobat quit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084 "2008-03-20T15:58:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/1 "2008-03-20T15:58:43Z")
At the end of every workday, I restart my computer via the Start Menu. However, about 90% of the time, Windows fails to restart. It will shut down some programs, but it will fail to finish the task. There aren’t any error messages – the computer just stays logged on. I can continue to run other programs as if I’d never issued the restart command. After a couple of days of trial and error and looking through the task manager, I finally figured out that Adobe Acrobat is the problem. Despite not having any program windows open, I will find via the task manager that Acrobat.exe, Adobelm\_Cleanup.0001 (sometimes, more than one instance) and Adobelmsvc.exe are all running, and the system won’t shut down properly unless I force-quit them (I generally “End Process Tree” on Acrobat.exe to take care of it). Is this a known problem with Acrobat? It’s not a big deal for me because I’m aware of it now, but there were times before I knew what was going on when I’d leave work thinking I’d restarted, only to come in the next morning and find that my computer had never gotten that far. I’m running Windows XP Professional SP2 on a Pentium 4 3GHz Dell desktop machine with 1GB RAM. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/2 "2008-03-20T16:02:56Z")
Oh good, I’m not the only one. It doesn’t happen all the time, and when it does I do get an error message, but yeah. I have to sit around and wait for my computer to actually shut down before I leave, because sometimes it won’t as a result of this. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/3 "2008-03-20T16:23:05Z")
Adobe Acrobat sucks for a variety of reasons. It was driving me nuts. Switch to [Foxit](http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php)! It’s free and it works great. I’ve been using it for quite a while now with no problems. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/4 "2008-03-21T20:20:03Z")
I’ll bump once for posterity. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Jinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Captain\_Jinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Jinks)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/5 "2008-03-21T20:54:59Z")
Have you tried uninstalling/reinstalling Adobe Reader? I find Adobe to be… temperamental. ---
**Author:** ![MissMossie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@MissMossie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMossie)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/6 "2008-03-21T21:01:13Z")
That happened to me with my old computer! I just ended up force quitting Adobe Acrobat Reader each time I used it and avoiding using it at all costs. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/7 "2008-03-22T02:59:03Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Jinks] Have you tried uninstalling/reinstalling Adobe Reader? I find Adobe to be… temperamental. [/QUOTE] I actually have Acrobat Professional 7. I could and probably should reinstall it, but it just hasn’t bugged me enough to go through the effort. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/8 "2008-03-22T05:49:41Z")
Adobe Acrobat Reader would act up like that for me as well. I find it a hopelessly gluggy program – as **pkbites** says, try Foxit. Hasn’t failed me yet. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/9 "2008-03-22T06:56:29Z")
When I tried to install Foxit, it ran through some options for trial offers on other products in order to get Foxit for free. None of the options were available in NZ and it wouldn’t let me download Foxit without going through that process. So I had to reinstall Adobe with Internet Explorer, because Firefox wouldn’t let me. How’d you get around that **Icewolf**? ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/10 "2008-03-22T14:15:33Z")
I simply go for the free download, and ignore the shareware offers. I see there’s some fancy page design at the Foxit site now – but going [here](http://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/) and clicking on the preferred download should get what you want. There’s another download site [here.](http://foxit-pdf-reader.en.softonic.com/) I also [Cute .pdf](http://www.cutepdf.com/) to write the files. That has its occasional tantrums, but in the main is a very good piece of freeware. The chap who prints my published stuff recommended it. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/11 "2008-03-22T16:21:24Z")
You should get a pirated version. Yours is obviously too legit to quit. :: ducks rotten fruit, old Vanilla Ice CDs :: FoxIt is a good choice. I use that when I use Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/12 "2008-03-22T16:30:44Z")
In the interests of science and because **IceWolf** has long praised it’s virtues I attempted to install Foxit. The link didn’t work and it appears to have been removed from the Mozilla Extensions listing. .pdf’s consistently crash Vista. They work perfectly and quickly with Linux. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/13 "2008-03-22T17:24:48Z")
I can’t find the cite at the moment, but Adobe does some pretty bizarre things with it’s software in how it installs it on the drive. Basically, the authentication files are stored in the Master Boot Record (which is what the system looks at when it first starts up, before loading Windows). This causes all kinds of problems with software, especially whole disk encryption (which is kind of important on laptops, since they’re so easily stolen, especially when they have personal information on them). It could quite possibly be related to that. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/14 "2008-03-22T18:08:42Z")
PDFs work just fine with Foxit on my Vista box. I’ve gone back to Acrobat Reader because Foxit doesn’t give thumbnail previews. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/15 "2008-03-22T19:10:16Z")
Acrobat behaves this way on my Windows XP and 2000 machines, and it behaved that way on the ME machines, too. On XP, I’ll sometimes find three or four instances of it running, and I have to kill each process manually. It’s very frustrating. I do all of my actual production of PDF files on my Mac systems, which handle it smoothly, cleanly, and quickly. Aside from some “out of memory” errors creating very large PDFs (an entire newspaper, for example), I’ve had no problems with PDFs on the Mac at all. ETA: As of Mac OSX 10.4, PDF viewing is integrated right into the finder. You can page through them without even firing up Preview. ---
**Author:** ![noctilucent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b38774/32.png) [@noctilucent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noctilucent)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/16 "2008-03-22T19:39:03Z")
As a Mac user, I have other frustrations with Adobe, but not with PDF, so I don’t have any other useful recommendations. I couldn’t let ths pass, though: [QUOTE=Derleth] You should get a pirated version. Yours is obviously too legit to quit. :: ducks rotten fruit, old _ **Vanilla Ice** _ CDs :: [/QUOTE] Yo man, it’s [Hammer time!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdk1gwWH-Cg) ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/17 "2008-03-23T06:41:47Z")
[QUOTE=Myglaren] The link didn’t work and it appears to have been removed from the Mozilla Extensions listing. [/QUOTE] Neither one of the links I’ve posted above work for you, **Myglaren**? That’s a shame. I never knew Foxit was a FF extension – always took it that it was a stand-alone piece of freeware (once you persevere and push aside all the pay version offers, as with AVG). And Linux can do anything 'cept find the cure for the common cold, so I hear. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/18 "2008-03-23T10:08:34Z")
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf] Neither one of the links I’ve posted above work for you, **Myglaren**? That’s a shame. I never knew Foxit was a FF extension – always took it that it was a stand-alone piece of freeware (once you persevere and push aside all the pay version offers, as with AVG). And Linux can do anything 'cept find the cure for the common cold, so I hear. 😉 [/QUOTE] Foxit’s a standalone app. It _does not_, however, integrate well into certain browsers. Opera, for example, has problems with it. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/19 "2008-03-23T10:30:04Z")
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf] And Linux can do anything 'cept find the cure for the common cold, so I hear. 😉 [/QUOTE] Far from it **Icey** but Vista is becoming the new Linux where it was perceived (rightly) to be cranky and hard work. There is a rapidly growing list of stuff that is broken with Vista the ‘just works’ with Linux. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084/20 "2008-03-23T17:35:36Z")
I always took Linux to be something arcane that could do better than Windows. Still holds that rep, far as I’m concerned, **Myglaren**. Interesting that Foxit doesn’t play well with Opera, **Tuckerfan**. To be expected, I suppose – some things don’t work well with others. But it’s smooth-as with Firefox. So, do you have problems with Acrobat Reader with Opera? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-adobe-acrobat-quit/442084.md?page=2)