Adobe dialog that won't go away

[Larry]

Sorry for asking an XP question here, but I couldn't find a newsgroup on XP.

I have a five year old Dell laptop with Windows XP that someone gave me
recently. Half the time, whenever you click or right-click on anything, a
dialog appears saying, "configuring [or installing] Adobe 8.1." This dialog
box just hangs, and you have to click it several times to get rid of it.

I went to Add/Remove programs dialog box, and guess what? It's empty, none
of the programs on the computer are showing at all.

I went to the Adobe folder in the Program Files folder, thinking of simply
deleting all the Adobe fiiles. There are two folders in it, one for version
7, and one for version 8, but when I try to delete, I get message saying I
can't do this with certain files which are being used or something. (Sorry
I'm not quoting it exactly.)

So: this dialog box keeps hanging up the computer, and there seems no way
to get rid of Adobe on the computer. And the Add-Remove box is messed up.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Larry

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

WinXP-specific newsgroup:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002

Larry wrote:
> Sorry for asking an XP question here, but I couldn't find a newsgroup on
> XP.
>
> I have a five year old Dell laptop with Windows XP that someone gave me
> recently. Half the time, whenever you click or right-click on anything, a
> dialog appears saying, "configuring [or installing] Adobe 8.1." This
> dialog
> box just hangs, and you have to click it several times to get rid of it.
>
> I went to Add/Remove programs dialog box, and guess what? It's empty, none
> of the programs on the computer are showing at all.
>
> I went to the Adobe folder in the Program Files folder, thinking of simply
> deleting all the Adobe fiiles. There are two folders in it, one for
> version
> 7, and one for version 8, but when I try to delete, I get message saying I
> can't do this with certain files which are being used or something.
> (Sorry
> I'm not quoting it exactly.)
>
> So: this dialog box keeps hanging up the computer, and there seems no
> way
> to get rid of Adobe on the computer. And the Add-Remove box is messed up.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
> Larry

 

[Don Phillipson]

"Larry" <larry328NOSPAM@att.net> wrote in message
news:exhPgZV2IHA.3688@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Sorry for asking an XP question here, but I couldn't find a newsgroup on
XP.
>
> I have a five year old Dell laptop with Windows XP that someone gave me
> recently. Half the time, whenever you click or right-click on anything, a
> dialog appears saying, "configuring [or installing] Adobe 8.1." This
dialog
> box just hangs, and you have to click it several times to get rid of it.
>
> I went to Add/Remove programs dialog box, and guess what? It's empty, none
> of the programs on the computer are showing at all.
>
> I went to the Adobe folder in the Program Files folder, thinking of simply
> deleting all the Adobe fiiles. There are two folders in it, one for
version
> 7, and one for version 8, but when I try to delete, I get message saying I
> can't do this with certain files which are being used or something.
(Sorry
> I'm not quoting it exactly.)
>
> So: this dialog box keeps hanging up the computer, and there seems no
way
> to get rid of Adobe on the computer. And the Add-Remove box is messed up.

1. Since you use XP, you will get better results in an XP newsgroup.
2. E.g. XP users will tell you that Adobe Reader v.8 seems seriously
buggy (which was why it was amended so soon.)
3. Your swiftest solution is probably
-- DELete everything in C:\Temp and C:\Windows\Temp
in case an incomplete installation causes your system hang.
-- Download (to a known directory on your PC) the large
files (20 to 30 Mb?) to instal both version 7 and version
8 of Adobe Reader.
4. Uninstal your current Reader(s) and remove its
parent subdirectory.
5. Instal Adobe Reader v.7 and run as normal. If this
meets your functional needs, do not bother with
Reader v.8 for some months (hoping it may be fully debugged.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

 

[J. P. Gilliver]

Don Phillipson wrote:
[]
> 2. E.g. XP users will tell you that Adobe Reader v.8 seems seriously
> buggy (which was why it was amended so soon.)
[]
> 5. Instal Adobe Reader v.7 and run as normal. If this
> meets your functional needs, do not bother with
> Reader v.8 for some months (hoping it may be fully debugged.)

Or Foxit 2.3. (Even runs on 98SElite - well, 2.2 does, can't remember if
I've tried 2.3 yet.) I've yet to find anything _I_ want to do with a .pdf
reader that Acrobat does which Foxit doesn't, and the latter is _far_
smaller (and less intrusive).
--
J. P. Gilliver | Tel. +44 1634 203298