Need help with adobe reader?

Question

My adobe reader seems to be all messed up, i've tried downloading reader 8 but it's already ticked off telling me i already have it, i've tried to delete it from my control panel but it won't work, i can't get any pdf files. Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

Answer 1

Budgie Charlie ... I agree with Newton. If using the Add/Remove Program tool isn't working, removing the entire folder may be the only way.

HOWEVER, if you have multiple Adobe products as I do, you'll have to go one level lower to remove only the folder for Adobe Reader 8.0. It should be like this:
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0"

That won't clean up your Windows registry, though. If the Adobe installer sees references to Acrobat Reader in the registry, your results may be the same. Hopefully, this will not be the case.

Can I recommend a fix if the registry entries need to be removed? No, I cannot. It's not hard, but when it comes to editing the Windows registry, you MUST know what you're doing or else you'll bust your entire system. When it comes to messing with the registry, I'm a blank, unfortunately.

Good luck. I hope you can get it fixed.

Answer 2

If you deleted some files, you probably deleted something that is necessary to remove the whole thing by uninstalling it. In the meantime, get Foxit Reader, a small, compact pdf reader that works twice as fast as Adobe Reader.
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Try going into Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel and click on Show updates box at the top. It will show all the latest versions of everything, including all the Adobe parts and pieces. See if you can uninstall all the parts from there. If you are successful in uninstalling it, then close the control panel and restart the computer. If you can't uninstall it, you will have to download and install it again before you can remove it.

After this, remember that when you try to delete a program, you only remove visible files, and those are most often the ones needed to actually remove the program. You can't remove a program by deleting, you can only remove it by UNINSTALLing IT.

Answer 3

First, check to see if you have adobe on your computer system by going to start control panel (windows xp) or by finding the control panel in any windows system. Then click on the add/remove programs link. Your system will compile all of the programs that have been installed on your computer. This may take a minute or two depending on processor speed and other factors. Once the screen has come up, look down the list and look for "Adobe Reader," mine was 4th from the top and they are listed alphabetically.

If you want to delete Adobe and try reinstalling it just click on "Adobe Reader" and on the right there should be a button that says remove, just click it and it will walk you through the deletion process. Once it is deleted go back to adobe.com and download their reader and install.

If the adobe reader is not in your "add/remove programs" list then you might have to delete the folder that is leftover on your hard-drive. The easiest way is to go to your "My Computer," double click your main hard drive (if at any time a screen comes up and say's that the files are secret or whatever just click the line that will let you see them. This is a built in protector in XP to disallow the adverage Joe from deleting something they don't mean to. But we have a purpose.) Double click the "Program Files" folder, and look for the Adobe folder. (Mine was the second folder). Just delete the folder, by clicking on it and hitting delete. It might pop up and say "you know that you are deleting a program file, right? And that if you do, this program won't work any more?" but we know that, because that is exactly what we want to do. After you delete the folder, just click the "X" in the upper right and try downloading Adobe again.

If you have any problems with this, let me know and I will help.

Thanks,
Charlie

Answer 4

Uninstall what you have in control panel, add/remove programs, then reinstall it.
Answer to your email:
Have you tried to delete it from safe mode, and have you looked whether there is an uninstall for it in the Start - Programs place?
Another way would be, if you just installed it recently, to go into Start - help - restore, and set the restore point back to before you installed it.

Answer 5

Try manually deleting the current install.

open windows explorer and make your wayr to
the cdrive
program files
adobe

delete the adobe folder then rerun the setup...

Answer 6

Re-install it.