Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Automatically Installing on Computers?

Question

To start, we do not use Adobe Acrobat in our office; instead, we use another PDF editor. Please excuse any incorrect technical jargon going forward; I'm not the dedicated IT tech, I'm simply the office admin and help with IT issues.

For some reason, several computers in the office have had Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (15.020.20042) installed on 12/1/2016. We are on a domain and only our network admins, including myself, can install/remove programs. When I uninstall the program, it automatically installs itself again after a restart. Our IT firm has no idea why, so I have to take to the forums.

Notes:

On a domain
All profiles are roaming and built off of an active directory
Users cannot install/uninstall software software
No other Acrobat software
No other changes to the computers/network have been made
All computers are on Windows 10 - updates are disabled
I don't have a clear estimate yet, but, I believe at least 20% of our 60 computer network is having this issue - I can't find a correlation between the computers with the issue

It wouldn't be an issue, but it's also setting itself as the default viewer for a few different file types that we use in office.

Why would Adobe Acrobat Reader DC automatically install without administrative permissions on restart?

What could have caused the installation in the first place?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

-Cody T

Test Screen Name · Accepted Answer

An interesting problem. We see this reported occasionally (perhaps every few months) and it's usually individuals in a company. We send them off to their IT department, to see if Acrobat Reader is being PUSHED by IT. Doesn't seem the case here, unless there is a shadow secret IT department with a different agenda...

Now, Acrobat Reader has an auto update feature. It PULLS updates when they are available and applies them. This means that Reader installs some privileged helper to do this. I think it is most probably a Service.

I speculate (without evidence) that Reader has been there, somehow for some reason, and when uninstalled this updater has been left behind. And I speculate that the updater just applies the full install package, which installs if it wasn't there.

So, some suggestions
1. Check services
2. You have a machine used to image the others? Check the services there too!
3. See if there is a log written for each update. If so, see if you can go back to the FIRST install and find out when it was. No idea where to look, sorry.

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