Acrobat Reader keeps changing the default PDF handler although not enabled to do so

Hello,

I'm using Acrobat Reader (currently the latest available 64-bit version for MS Windows, i.e. 2023.001.20174) under MS Windows 10. I chose to use a different PDF viewer as the default due to lower operational footprint of the alternative viewer, but I want to use Acrobat Reader ocassionally for certain more advanced features (e.g. electronically signing documents) as necessary. Unfortunately, Acrobat Reader changes the assignment of the default PDF viewer/handler to itself as soon as I open it in spite of the fact that I didn't enable the setting to notify me about possibly different default handler (and even less to change it silently in the background in spite of my preferences). I understand that Adobe developers may be in a difficult position considering the fact that Microsoft Edge (installed by default on MS Windows) changes the default to itself sometimes as well (there are ways to circumvent it with MS Edge, but not easy to find for newcomers), but that's no excuse for Adobe being as evil as Microsoft. How can I make sure that Acrobat Reader stops doing this? Note that I obviously know how to change the default again according to my preferences, I'd just prefer not having to do this after any Acrobat Reader invocation...