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How to disable Adobe Updater on Mac

Wed, 2008.03.05 - 08:09 — müzso
Whenever I open a PDF in Adobe Reader 8, the Updater kicks in in the background and most of the time it would never exit. I just opened a PDF (no problem there) and after I quit from Reader, I wanted to trash the PDF file. However Finder told me no go since some app is holding on to that file. It turned out to be the shitty Updater. Enough is enough, I turned to Google to get rid of that.

I've found two solutions:
  • You can use the Adobe way described in one of their knowledge base articles. For me it worked to edit the ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Updater5/AdobeUpdaterPrefs.dat file and disable automatic updates.
  • You can disable the execution of the Updater (by the Reader application) alltogether. Go to your Applications folder in Finder, right-click Adobe Reader and open the "Get Info" dialog. Uncheck the Updater plugin in the Plugins list and you're all done. This is the best option if you just want to disable Updater for the Reader app.

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Thu, 2008.03.06 - 22:40 — Greg Haines (not verified)

I am so sick of Adobe Updater!

Thanks for the tip. Adobe Updater is ridiculous!

Sun, 2008.03.30 - 03:33 — müzso

Adobe Updater consumes 100% of the CPU capacity

After reading various posts on the topic, it seems to me that some versions of Adobe Updater consume all system resources (both CPU and memory) if they cannot connect to the update server. This can be caused either by firewall settings or other network configuration problems. Eg. I have experienced the issue, when I had a proxy set up in my network preferences. In my case it was a PAC file (Proxy Automatic Configuration) and it worked in Safari, but Adobe Updater seems to have problems with it. Anyway ... disabling the proxy settings Adobe Updater tried and succeeded to connect to the update server directly and the 100% CPU utilization issue was gone.

Mon, 2008.06.02 - 20:27 — __Tango (not verified)

Proxy was the problem

I had a .pac file setup as well. Removing it made the problem go away.

Unfortunately, i need my proxy file most of the time.

I found this article at adobe: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=331931

It basically says that the updater doesn't work with an authenticating proxy, however i'm not using an authenticating proxy. I'll investigate more and see what i can come up with.

Thanks.

...alex...

Tue, 2009.01.27 - 07:42 — tsooname (not verified)

Proxy exception

Thanks for this article! I put an exception in the proxy settings to bypass the proxy for adobe.com. Works like a champ now.

Wed, 2009.01.28 - 00:21 — müzso

Re: Proxy exception

You're welcome. Smile

Wed, 2008.04.02 - 00:54 — goldenbear (not verified)

Thanks for the tips

The subject line says it. Smile

Sun, 2008.04.20 - 17:42 — RJ in Toronto (not verified)

You are my hero for the day!

That pesky Updater has been a thorn in my side for months now ... thanks so much for the invaluable tip!

Sun, 2008.04.20 - 19:21 — müzso

Re: You are my hero for the day!

You're welcome. Smile

Sat, 2008.05.17 - 21:18 — Tanya Matson (not verified)

Adobe Updater

I just purchased CS3 Standard. My problem is every program I open (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign) automatically opens the Updater and every time the Updater unexpectedly quits and I get an error message. I can hit "ignore" and move on, but it's just something I have to go through each time I open a program.

I tried trashing the updater but it keeps reinventing itsself. I tried a repair install. No go. An uninstall and reinstall of all the software. No go. Downloading the CS3 Clean script and wiping clean the Adobe files at both level one and reinstall and level two and reinstall. Nothing.

The Updater just keeps coming back with the inability to open but keeps on trying.

Anyone else have this problem???

Tanya

Sun, 2008.05.18 - 09:21 — müzso

Cleaning preferences?

It's not enough to remove the Updater app itself. Did you clean up the Updater preferences too?
There're two instances of it:
  • system wide preferences at /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Updater5/*
  • user preferences at /Users/<your_user>/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Updater5/*
You could try this:
  • remove all adobe apps with their own uninstaller (if any)
  • remove Updater at /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Utilities.localized/Adobe Updater5
  • remove Updater's prefs from the two locations mentioned above (including the Updater5 directories)
  • install CS3
  • start a CS3 app (eg. Photoshop) and if Updater starts and no visible window is displayed, then wait til Updater fails and exits
  • start Updater from Photoshop's menu (Help / Updates) manually, this should bring up the Adobe Updater window (and the Updater is shown as a separate app in the Dock)
  • select Preferences and uncheck the checkbox "Automatically check for Adobe updates" in the top-left corner
Hopefully this solves your problem.

P.S.: not all of the above steps are completely necessary, but without knowing exactly what's going on on your Mac I could only come up with a complete procedure

Wed, 2008.05.21 - 20:28 — Tanya (not verified)

Adobe Updater

I cannot thank you enough. I have spent who knows how long on three different phone calls with Adobe's technical support. All great people by the way but just didn't get to the root of the problem. I didn't see any preferences under the system preferences but did, however, find the preference in user preferences. Trashed the utility as before AND the user preference, and so far the little bugger isn't trying to reinvent itself only to open and quit.

I'm so glad to not have to call again only to wipe clean and reinstall several more times.

Thank you!!!

Wed, 2008.05.21 - 20:39 — müzso

Re: Adobe Updater

You're welcome. I'm glad I could help. Smile

Sun, 2008.05.18 - 11:32 — Anonymous (not verified)

teszt

blabla

Thu, 2008.07.31 - 13:49 — Martha Campbell (not verified)

cannot update any Adobe software

I am running mac OS 10.4.11 on a G5. I am unable to update any Adobe software. When I run Adobe Updater I get a message stating the installation process encountered a problem. I am then supposed to choose either cancel the current update and install the remaining update or stop installing and continue later. Selecting the first choice keeps giving me the same error message. I have disabled the automatic updater. I work at an engineering college and our computer center hates macs. Please help!

Thu, 2008.07.31 - 14:11 — müzso

Re: cannot update

Do you have any proxy set up in your network preferences? The Updater app seems to have problems with proxies ... however on a university campus you might not have the choice to disable it (since you might not be able to access the internet without the proxy). It's a shame that Adobe did such a bad job with this Updater. Sad

Tue, 2009.02.17 - 02:49 — Anonymous (not verified)

perfect!

Your 2nd recommendation worked perfectly! You rock.

Tue, 2009.02.17 - 22:23 — Anonymous (not verified)

Wow...thanks for the simple

Wow...thanks for the simple fix. Every so often updater would kick in while reading a PDF and my macbook fan would start screaming. When I would quit updater, the processor just kept on goin'. Thanks so much!

Thu, 2009.04.02 - 00:07 — gulfofaqaba (not verified)

Thank you!

Thanks -- disabling the plugin, nice!

Fri, 2010.07.09 - 11:00 — Mac Fan (not verified)

Not a big problem

It is actually not a big problem to disable Adobe Updater. All you need to do is to execute the Adobe_Updater.exe file that is located in the Program Files Common Files AdobeUpdater6 directory on your hard drive. The application will perform an update check and notifyyou about updates. The updates won’t be installed however until the user clicks on the "Download And Install Updates" button.

A click on Preferences will load the configuration screen. Unchecking the “Automatically check for Adobe updates” box will do the trick. Mac OS X users can basically do the same. The location of the Adobe Updater program on their system is /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Utilities/Adobe Updater5/.

Sun, 2012.04.08 - 13:46 — Tom (not verified)

Adobe Reader Updater

I tried everything suggested on this page, and the blasted Updater still kept coming back.

In the end I found every Adobe related file on my iMac, and deleted the lot.

I shall never again buy a single item of Adobe software. Preview stands in for Acrobat reader, and I now use GIMP instead of Photoshop.

What idiots at these big companies think that by forcing us to run their silly utilities and making it hard to remove them they will get more business. They will not. They will just drive us away. This is my PERSONAL computer. I run it. I control it. I object to anyone else trying to take away some of that control.

While we are about it, how can I remove that silly iDisk icon from the explorer, as I have no intention of signing up to iDisk, and how do I remove iTunes store, and iTunes match from my iTunes interface?? Maybe I shall have to find a replacement for iTunes. Dear Apple, I understand that you want to make it easy for me to use your iTunes store. I do not like you forcing me to have it in my application. I do not like it any more than the way you make current iPods refuse to interoperate with older versions of Mac OS X, for no good reason, other than to force me to buy an unnecessary OS upgrade. Keep this up and it will backfire. The introduction of MacOS X was a piece of genius that lured many of us away from Windoze, but if you are going to start acting like Microsoft you will lose our support and end up back where you were in the mid-90's.

I feel better now!!

Sun, 2012.04.08 - 23:42 — müzso

Re: Adobe Reader Updater


I feel better now!!

I'm glad to hear/read that you do. Wink
Btw. I totally agree with you. For some time I was hell bent on moving to linux because the "politics" of Mac OS X (and all the apps on it) are a bit totalitarian. But recently I got fed up with Ubuntu's own shit as well. Probably there's no "fine" OS ... there's "the good, the bad and the ugly". Wait ... that's a movie. Smile So there's the bad, the worse and the worst of all. Wink It's up to us to choose. What a relief.

Wed, 2010.08.11 - 22:15 — Anonymous (not verified)

Disable Adobe Reader Update

The second option provided me with a very easy disble option on my Mac OS 10.4.11