Disable automatic updates in Adobe Reader DC?

Every time when this kind of things happen, I have to spend hours to look for solution. My painting/animation artworks counted by hours. Whenever update shows up, I have to stop my work-flow thought... very annoying and wasting time. Looking up solution also takes time. I looked up through menu, can't find the options. I looked up internet, and have to deal with the English reading (I am not a native speaker). Adobe's application are supposed to help people work faster. aren't they?

Please stop doing this kind of thing, Adobe!

I hate this change to Adobe's operation. Not only do I have no control over changes to my computer, but I also have to remove all the annoying new icons that Adobe puts on my desktop. Someday soon, Adobe will do a disastrous update, like Microsoft does on occasion, which requires all sorts of retracing and uninstalling. It's inevitable. This is one more effect of being a monopoly: You can do anything you want, and customers have no choice ... until the inevitable disaster.

With Windows Updates at least I can read the weekly warnings from CNET before I install, but with Adobe there's no such safety net.

A lot of great ideas here, I see people mention Deep Freeze. I installed that for a bit but when the trial ran out I didn't quite have the money at the time for a license so I went with a free alternative, reboot restore rx. I use it to eliminate updates I don't want so you might want to consider it as there may be some updates that you'll want to install. I think if you turn it off entirely you might miss out on some really critical updates. Some food for thought

So it's near the end of 2015, and there is still no GUI for disabling the automatic updater?  Come on, Adobe.  Pretend that you have corporate customers that you give a crap about.

Hey guys, thank you all for the directions. Done all that's been listed and will pull the plug on installing/running Adobe Reader DC in my family's computers and those of my company upon software maintenance.

Adobe does not seem to understand their reader is already one of the heaviest on resources, and annoying users with cumbersome procedures (it is, for regular users) will just enforce the stampede towards competitors.

In regard to accepting license agreements, noone even reads them, home users or system administrators. There is no negotiation of clauses or any sort of customization for anything the user does not agree with. For paid software it's even more dull, since the "contract" is presented AFTER purchase. That is why software agreements will never have any value to users. Though their acceptance may exempt Adobe and other developers from any legal claims, they just worsen user irritation upon mention. People want and have the right to easily manage what software is unnecessarily spending resources and devouring their 3G/4G data limits. Softwares that do not comply with that are subject to abandonment. In fact, the plain refusal of developers to attend to user basic needs (not to have this hassle, for example) is what starts the search for alternative applications. Should they just maintain things running smoothly for the user (you need updates for that, we get it, but we need to update only when it is convenient), the natural inertia would keep them using the software forever.

I wholeheartedly agree with many on this post. As a software developer that has many PDFs open at many times, and can't just rebppt my PC when an app decides it wants me to, I need to be able to control when things update... I never let Flash update on it's own. But with Acrobat, frequently there are rebooting requirements, since you are forcing a reboot, we must be give control. 

This caused a shutdown of a computer I need to remotely access. I had to have someone physically go to the location to restart it.

This is TOTALLY arrogant and unacceptable behavior.

If we can't easily undo it, we'll pull Acrobat from our computers.

Today I found what APPEARS to be a simple way to disable automatic updates.  Windows 7, Adobe Reader X

In Adobe Reader X:  Edit | Preferences | Categories.

At the very bottom of the list on the left-had side is something called Updater.  It gives three choices, one of which is: Do not download or install updates automatically.

I hope it works.

In the meantime, I agree with all re Adobe high-handedness.

Hi all,

I was successfully able to prevent Adobe Reader DC from updating using the following registry key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\FeatureLockDown]

"bUpdater"=dword:00000000

I too work in a public environment and use Deep Freeze. I also get tired of having to figure out certain registry entries in order to disable automatic updates for various programs and I refuse to use crappy customization tools.

I am an IT Manager for my company and we use a software called DeepFreeze to put the workstations into stasis mode after they are setup. No updates are permanent unless we unlock the software first. So we have always disabled automatic updates to keep the computers from wasting time and computer resources. I exported the registry key with the AU off and can quickly "turn off" AU in the future.  But it's a bit presumptuous of Adobe to remove the controls from the preferences. At least they didn't remove "Check For Updates" under the Help menu.