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bob-user
bob-user
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forum support for Adobe Reader

May 4, 2012 8:23 PM

Hi. I have Adobe Reader X version 10.1.3 installed on a Windows OS. It's a nice program, in most respects, and lately it seems to be improving too.  However, it is creating one very annoying problem for me. Every single time I start it up to read a pdf file, it wants to connect to the internet. This should not be happening because I have not configured it for doing so.  In the menu item Edit, Prefences, Updater, I have selected the option "Do not download or install updates automatically." Also, since I have my firewall configured not to allow this action, I have to now deliberately stop what I am doing and click on buttons to deny the internet connection. To say that this is annoying, is, well, a gross understatement.  How can I prevent it from recurring? Thanks.

 

Wouldn't it be swell if there were an option, while making a post on this forum, to be notified by email whenever I got a response. Jim dandy swell, I think, and efficient. 

1572 Views   18 Replies   Latest reply: Pat Willener, May 19, 2012 12:44 AM
 
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  • Pat Willener
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    1. Pat Willener,
    May 4, 2012 8:43 PM   in reply to bob-user
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    Sorry, I don't know about your Internet connection question.

     

    Regarding email notifications, I think by default you will get notifications when someone replies in your topic.

     

    If you do not, you can click on 'Receive email notifications' on the Actions panel on the right of your initial post.

     
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  • bob-user
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    2. bob-user,
    May 4, 2012 9:20 PM   in reply to Pat Willener
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    Hello, Pat. I appreciate getting your prompt reply.

     

    Sorry, I don't know about your Internet connection question.

     

    Pat, this is my first posting in your forum. If you do not know the solution, how should I now proceed in order to fix this problem? Adobe Reader should not be attempting to connect to the internet after I have made the settings for not doing so. Are you saying that this is a known issue, a bug in the program?

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    3. Pat Willener,
    May 4, 2012 11:21 PM   in reply to bob-user
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    No, I just do not know about it.  But there are many other forum users more knowledgeable than me, so you may get your question fully answered in due time.

     

    P.S. did you get the email notification from my post?

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    4. Pat Willener,
    May 4, 2012 11:24 PM   in reply to bob-user
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    It may also help if you post some more information.  You know that the program is connecting to the Internet, but do you know where to - IP address, or server name?  That may also help to determine what is going on.

     

    I may actually do some tests myself...

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    5. Pat Willener,
    May 4, 2012 11:35 PM   in reply to bob-user
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    I did run a quick test; starting TCPview, then Adobe Reader.  I did indeed see that it connected for a short while to 116.91.142.73, which is a local Akamai server.  Akamai is used by Adobe to download program installs and updates.

     

    I will now try the same after disabling auto-updates.

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    6. Pat Willener,
    May 4, 2012 11:45 PM   in reply to bob-user
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    Automatic updates were already disabled, so I do not really know what it was doing.

     

    I also tried to find any logfiles, but without success.  You got me curious now; I hope someone comes up with an answer.  But we may need to wait until the weekend is over...

     
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  • bob-user
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    7. bob-user,
    May 5, 2012 6:12 PM   in reply to Pat Willener
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    Pat, hello again. I am getting all of your email responses too, but I prefer to come online to answer directly because my concern is that my email address would become available for harvesting by spammers if I use the email program to respond. Anyway, your testing confirmed my issue too. I also wanted to follow your suggestion about posting the IP address to which the program tries to make a connection. It does not always try the same one, and the most recent one is this:   204.245.190.32

     

     

    network:Org-Name:Akamai

    network:Street-Address:8 Cambridge Center

    network:City:Cambridge

    network:State:MA

    network:Postal-Code:02142

    network:Country-Code:US

     

    I believe that is the same one you got with a different number. There are probably many addresses for Akamai. I am anxious to fix this problem too and eagerly awaiting a resolution from Adobe. Like you said, unless one of the IT guys gets an initiative, it will likely have to wait till Monday at the soonest. Thanks.

     
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  • bob-user
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    8. bob-user,
    May 8, 2012 11:20 PM   in reply to Pat Willener
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    Pat, any word on my issue? What should I do now to prompt a response from the support team here, or am I being impatient? I am just wanting to know whether I should start spending time on research elsewhere. Thanks.

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    9. Pat Willener,
    May 9, 2012 8:46 PM   in reply to bob-user
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    Sorry, if nobody else answers, it means that nobody else knows.

     

    This is mainly a user-to-user forum.  I know that there are a few Adobe employee regulars here at the forum, but they mostly answer questions when someone cannot get Adobe Reader to work.

     
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  • bob-user
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    10. bob-user,
    May 9, 2012 9:53 PM   in reply to Pat Willener
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    Thanks, Pat. I will give it a couple of days and revisit the issue.  Take care.

     
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  • bob-user
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    11. bob-user,
    May 10, 2012 8:38 AM   in reply to Pat Willener
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    Pat, I got an answer this morning. Not sure if you saw it because I don't see it posted here for some reason.  This is the answer:

     

    Re: forum support for Adobe Reader

    created by Nikhil.Gupta in Adobe Reader - View the full discussion

    The request being sent to the akamai server, (even when the Reader updater setting is turned OFF) is for updating the Adobe Approved Trust List (http://www.adobe.com/security/approved-trust-list.html).

     

    The Adobe Approved Trust List is a program that allows millions of users around the world to create digital signatures that are trusted whenever the signed document is opened in Adobe® Acrobat® or Reader® software. Essentially, both Acrobat and Reader have been programmed to reach out to a web page to periodically download a list of trusted "root" digital certificates.

     

     

    If you want you can specifically turn off the auto update functionality for the same by navigating to Edit > Preferences > Trust Manager from within the Reader application. Look under the "Automatic Updates" section and you can change the setting as required or chose for the application to ask before updating the root certificates.

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    12. Pat Willener,
    May 10, 2012 6:03 PM   in reply to bob-user
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    Thanks for the feedback; I also received the explanation from another employee.

     
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  • bob-user
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    13. bob-user,
    May 13, 2012 11:49 PM   in reply to bob-user
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    I have followed these instructions. I have auto-Automatic Updating turned off in BOTH places, but the Adobe Reader continues attempting to connect to the internet every time I start the program.  Just now it was trying to connect to this IP:  23.15.7.43, which is yet another a23-15-7-43.deploy.akamaitechnologies.com.

     

    So what can be done now to fix the continuing problem? 

     
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  • Dave Merchant
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    14. Dave Merchant,
    May 14, 2012 12:14 AM   in reply to bob-user
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    Are you showing the Welcome Screen when starting Reader without any open documents? If so, there are probably banner messages displayed on it.

     

    Edit > Preferences > General > Messages from Adobe > untick "Show me messages when I launch Reader"

     
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  • bob-user
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    15. bob-user,
    May 14, 2012 9:54 AM   in reply to Dave Merchant
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    From: Dave Merchant [mailto:forums@adobe.com]
    Sent: Monday, May 14, 2012 2:14 AM
    To: bob-user
    Subject: [Adobe Reader] forum support for Adobe Reader

     

    Dave Merchant wrote:

     

    Are you showing the Welcome Screen when starting Reader without any open documents? If so, there are probably banner messages displayed on it.

     

    Edit > Preferences > General > Messages from Adobe > untick "Show me messages when I launch Reader"

     

     

    Yes, I am opening it on a blank screen, but this also happens when I click on a pdf document to open directly.  I do not see any banner messages in either case when I do so. If I were allowed to show a screen shot of what I see currently, you could see the opening screen too.  I checked in my settings about the option you mentioned above, and it is not checked to show messages.   Anyway, would the "Messages from Adobe" to which you referred come from MAI Technologies?  I suppose there must be another cause for it?  Thanks.

     
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  • bob-user
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    16. bob-user,
    May 18, 2012 10:38 PM   in reply to Dave Merchant
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    I don't believe that I have behaved impatiently, and I am not sure why my question would cause such a challenge for the Adobe support team to resolve.  From my perspective it is fairly simple to explain, it is reproducible, it is a severe annoyance and a security lapse.  Every time I start Adobe Reader, it attempts to connect to one of the servers for Adobe. I respectfully requested help, explained the situation promptly, and I followed the suggestion of your support persons. Yet the problem persists, no one seems to have a clue, and I am not getting the impression that this support request is getting handled through any procedure. What can I now do to get satisfaction?

     

    I really hope to have this problem solved satisfactorily and before long so that I don't have to be worried about some rogue server trying to make a connection with my computer. Although the Adobe Reader has served me well, security is not negotiable.  Otherwise, I will have no choice but to convert all my PDF documents to XPS format, and I will have to install GhostScript with GSView in order to render PDF files. I hope it won't come to that. 

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    17. Pat Willener,
    May 19, 2012 12:36 AM   in reply to bob-user
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    You have indeed been most patient.  I'm sorry that you have not received the answer you have expected, but this is mostly a user-to-user forum, and it is very rare that Adobe tech staff shows up here.

     

    Unfortunately I do not know any better alternative for you.  You could try the paid tech support, but from all we have heard of that, it is almost guaranteed that they will not be able to help you.

     

    There is one knowledgeable Adobe employee that used to show up here regularly, but I haven't seen him around for a while.  Can you try to send a PM to Ankit_Jain and point him to this topic?  He may have some inside knowledge that we fellow users simply don't have.

     

    Good luck!

     
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  • Pat Willener
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    18. Pat Willener,
    May 19, 2012 12:44 AM   in reply to bob-user
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    Another employee you may try to PM is David Kastendick.  There is no guarantee that they can actually help you, but it's certainly worth a try.

     
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