New startup item - Adobe ARM

[pwillener]

Looked at Autoruns today and found that there is a new startup item: Adobe ARM, or "Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager".  It resides at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe

In this folder there are also

- AcrobatUpdater.exe

- AdobeExtractFiles.dll

- ReaderUpdater.exe

All module dates are 2009-09-04; anyone knows what it is, and why Adobe ARM is a startup item? (Checking Task Manager processes, I do not see it actually running.)

[mmcampbe]

I asked the same question here:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/522601?tstart=0

No responses yet.  This is a major issue to my corporation.  We need to know what this process is for before deploying this software to our workstations.

[peternelson]

mmcambe said . . .

I asked the same question here:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/522601?tstart=0

No responses yet.

I also asked a related question about startup items launched by Adobe . . . . http://forums.adobe.com/thread/585861

What does it take to get some answers around here?    

And why does Adobe (and a few other companies) feel that it's OK to install startup items and new menus in other apps without asking the user's  permission first?

[370H55V]

Does it show in MSCONFIG under startup items? Disable it there.

And why does Adobe (and a few other companies) feel that it's OK to  install startup items and new menus in other apps without asking the  user's  permission first?

There is a EULA (End User License Agreement) shown during the install process that says you agree to the terms of use and agree to install the software per manufacturer's specifications, so they DO ask for your permission and you give it if you click agree or accept and then proceed to install. Don't agree? Don't install it. It's really that simple.

Don't give me any crap about "it's not specified in the EULA" either. It addresses third party plugins, and hidden features or applications right in the agreement. Just because "nobody reads those things when they install a program" is no excuse. That's how we got into the worst recession this country has ever seen, because "nobody reads those things" when they buy a house either.

[Fran_Dunigan]

If all the software manufacturers would simply give us a choice for which managers, auto-updaters, quick launchers, and monitors we want installed, we won't have 30 unidentified "things" that auto-load, consume system resources, and forcing us to look for answers about how they appeared, what they do, and how we can remove them.  Option buttons, selections will give us the ability to provide "informed conscent."  Pointing to a blanket statement in the legal ramblins of an EULA is a cop out.

But you're analogy is right on tarket.  The EULA is very much like the the legal documents consumers are "forced" to sign when buying a house.  And what is the consumers' choice?  We have none.  Neither an EULA nor loan documents can be modified, and if we don't agree we have no recorse.  The deep pockets pay lawyers to make sure of it and THAT is why this country is at such a disadvantage in what is a poor global economy.  Try simply addressing the customers' needs and concerns and I'll stop shot of telling you where you can put your EULA.

[tomaugerdotcom]

Hear hear, on the comment about subterfuge and resorting to EULAs. In the last 20 years, software manufacturers have learned that they can hide behind an end-user license agreement that A) is hard to read for the average user and B) extremely generic, granting blanket privileges for the manufacturer in extremely broad terms. The fact remains that the software manufacturers have us over a barrelhead and can deploy whatever strategy they feel is most expedient for them in terms of how they manage the software install, update and daily execution processes. We wonder why our system folders, startup times and overall processing speed bogs down over time and this is one of the great causes. Adobe has initiated no less than 4 different update/startup runtime schemes over the last few years (CS3 has a different updater than CS4 and CS5, the Flash updater is separate, ARM, etc etc). On last inspection, I found all of these still hanging around my HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run registry - even though many of these directories had long been uninstalled.

I get it that 90% of the users out there don't care what's happening "under the hood" and don't have the wherewithal to micro-manage their hardware and software environment. But for those of us that do - and who can see what's really going on - it's extremely frustrating when these megacorporations try to pull a fast one on us.

Adobe continues to obfuscate the download location of its Flash Player updater for instance, preferring to have you resort to Akmai DLM, or its own homegrown version. Why make me pipe into your public FTP server, or download a beta version from the dev site, when you can simply provide me with the option on your website (like you used to do years ago)?

Would it kill the release team to provide a little readme that pops up alongside the EULA that says "here are all the things we're installing on your computer in addition to the software you were expecting to have installed... that you may or may not want?" And then provide me with some easy means of removing them rather than having to resort to Googling or one's own knowledge of your OS infrastructure...

[tomaugerdotcom]

To Adobe's credit (I suppose), the installer for Adobe CS5 Master Suite (and possibly others) now does its best to show you a comprehensive list of additional components, helpers, starup items and other softsam (flotware?) that it will install, providing you the option to painstakingly uncheck them all. This is a step in the right direction. A better move would be to provide fully functioning, stand-alone software (PS, AI, INDD etc) that didn't require ANY additional items in order to run (does anyone actually like the fact that now all help connects you to an online "community" rather than just an offline help file?). And then provide, as an additional install option, the "integration suite" which are all those other bells and whistles that Adobe jams into their release that don't really add value to the average design studio's workflow...

[mrsshelly]

Dude well said.

[TxMik]

BS on the EULA and 'don't like, don't install' pigheaded talk.

A EULA has become an easy method to abuse customer trust.

It's just like all that 2 point type in your credit card contract.

Did you read it?  Not good of you if you didn't, because just like

the EULA you're bound to some stupid concessions.

Don't like it?  Then don't use your card?  Hardly.

It's just the way we treat each other nowadays.

Finding more honor in business and

and giving real trust is difficult.

[yuval_huck]

About adobe ARM- i think this is program for arm processors.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/11/22/adobe-and-arm-collaboration-to-enable-flash-10-running-on-a...

[mnscott]

I get that Adobe ARM is Acrobat Reader and Acrobat Mgr, and can safely be dissabled from startup.  But why then do I still show Adobe Reader Speed Launcher?  Is Adobe Reader something different from Acrobat Reader?

[pwillener]

Adobe ARM is the Adobe update manager, not only for Adobe Reader, but also other products like Flash Player.

Adobe Reader Speed Launcher is exactly what its name implies; it will preload some Adobe Reader components at startup.  It can also safely be disabled in the startup list.

Adobe Readr vs. Acrobat Reader: the latter was the name of the Reader up until version 6, later it was renamed Adobe Reader (as it can also open other Adobe files, not only PDF).

[LeoUpdaterX]

Just to be precise -

ARM is only for Reader and Acrobat.

Flash has it's own updater.

CS starting from version 5 has it's own.

[tstraub89]

If anyone is still wondering what it is, look here:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/837/cpsid_83709/attachments/Acrobat_Reader_Updater.pdf

It's used for the Updater, not for ARM processors.

ARM in this case stands for Adobe Reader & Acrobat Manager.