Participant

Answered

Can ARM folders be deleted?

Forum|Forum|12 years ago
May 16, 2013
8 replies
224022 views

There are 2.8 GB of ARM files on my computer. They are located in C:/ProgramData/Adobe/ARM/ and are in folders from previous versions (Reader_10.0.1, Reader_10.1.4, Reader_10.1.5, Reader_10.1.6, and Reader_10.1.7,). I need the space (it's a 40GB drive with less than 2GB free space). Can any or all of these files/folders be deleted?

We are currently running Reader 10.1.7 and 2.7GB of the files mentioned above are in the folder "Reader_10.0.1"

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer ChrisSlovacek

There were 1,668 folders whose path began with "C:\ProgramData\Adobe\ARM\Reader_10.0.1\" each of which contain the files AcrobatUpdater.exe, AdobeARM.exe, AdobeExtractFiles.dll, and ReaderUpdater.exe. Each of these folders are around 1,805,080 bytes.

Over all there were 5003 directories and 6645 files taking up 2,989,359,555 bytes!

In a command prompt window, I navigated to "C:\ProgramData\Adobe\ARM" and then ran the command "dir /s >arm.txt". When I open it up in Excel, it is an astounding 18,326 rows long!!

So I did uninstall all adobe reader, adobe arm, adobe flash, and adobe shockwave programs. Rebooted the computer. Deleted those folders (all of which were still there). And then reinstalled Flash and Shockwave. They have Adobe Acrobat so Reader is not necessary.

All I can say is that I hope this was an isolate glitch. I'd hate to think that Adobe ARM is taking up gigabytes on hundreds of thousands of computers!

M

michael_ac

Participant

Over a decade later, and this issue was still not resolved.

L

LeoUpdaterX

Participating Frequently

What is AdobeARM.exe file version in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0 ?

What is the version of your Reader and\or Acrobat?

Is it multiuser system?

Are you admin user?

Is your Updater preference changed from auto mode, which is default?

A

after_effectist

Participating Frequently

Dec 2024 Checking in - wouldnt have found this if not for WinDirStat.

Why cant CC just sit in the background until the user asks for an update??

L

LeoUpdaterX

Participating Frequently

What is AdobeARM.exe file version in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0 ?

W

wetyl

Participant

consider this case, which was posted three years ago

X

Xestórta

Participant

wow that's a slightly big arm folder

M

Michał5FD6

Participant

"All Reader Updates combined cannot be as big as you mentioned"

Here I am with my 10.6 GB ARM folder

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

" "All Reader Updates combined cannot be as big as you mentioned" Here I am with my 10.6 GB ARM folder"

There have been a lot of updates since 2013. The last few posts have shown what is supposed to happen, with one download per update. I don't know about Reader, but the updates for Acrobat Pro DC total 26 GB. This is different from the original post, where something had gone haywire, and made thousands of folders for the same update.

P

Patchouli Knowledge

Participant

I spent the last hour trying to squeeze space out of my C drive and now I found this gigantic 5.5GB folder. I'm so pissed off right now. Now I hate Adobe Reader even more.

P

ParrotSlave

Participant

It's almost seven years since this question was posted, but Adobe is still trying to protect us against the evil of having extra free space on our hard drives. Here's a screenshot of my ARM window just now, showing more than 400 mb of space being used by various incarnations of Reader going all the way back to 2014.

R

rossy656

Participant

I just checked and my machine also has 2.0G of historical ARM folders. It's good to know that we are being protected from having unused diskspace for free in this fashion. :). My operating systm on this legacy system is Windows 2012 Server.

pwillener

Legend

I have that folder as well, with many subfolders, but they are all empty.

L

LeoUpdaterX

Participating Frequently

ARM is Reader and Acrobat Updater.

This folder is for downloaded Updates.

After Updates are installed, ARM suppose to delete them.

All Reader Updates combined cannot be as big as you mentioned.

Can you provide a list of files that are there? Maybe just a names of a few biggest files should help to understand better what is going on.

You can delete the files - if Updater will need them again, it will re-download

C

ChrisSlovacekAuthorCorrect answer

Participant

There were 1,668 folders whose path began with "C:\ProgramData\Adobe\ARM\Reader_10.0.1\" each of which contain the files AcrobatUpdater.exe, AdobeARM.exe, AdobeExtractFiles.dll, and ReaderUpdater.exe. Each of these folders are around 1,805,080 bytes.

Over all there were 5003 directories and 6645 files taking up 2,989,359,555 bytes!

In a command prompt window, I navigated to "C:\ProgramData\Adobe\ARM" and then ran the command "dir /s >arm.txt". When I open it up in Excel, it is an astounding 18,326 rows long!!

So I did uninstall all adobe reader, adobe arm, adobe flash, and adobe shockwave programs. Rebooted the computer. Deleted those folders (all of which were still there). And then reinstalled Flash and Shockwave. They have Adobe Acrobat so Reader is not necessary.

All I can say is that I hope this was an isolate glitch. I'd hate to think that Adobe ARM is taking up gigabytes on hundreds of thousands of computers!

L

LeoUpdaterX

Participating Frequently

Chris,

The information you provided is valuable - I will make sure that the issue is addressed.

If you could please answer a few more questions-

What is this operating system?

How many Users have account on this system?

Could it be that someone has changed permissions on the C:\ProgramData folder?

Thank you

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