Man do I despise Acrobat

[Tiger_words]

For years I had a version of Adobe Acrobat 9.0 (that I paid for) that I ran on my Windows machine and worked pretty well to modify PDF documents.  Well the geniuses at Adobe got me the other day.  Somehow I managed to agree to an update and now the program is GONE and I no longer have the ability to edit PDF documents. Every time I try I am pay-walled.  Totally sucks.  And on top of that, I now have worthless McAfee on the machine.  Thanks Adobe!

I am going to try to reinstall it but if I can't, there is no way this Darth Vadar of a company will ever get one cent out of me forever.  

Edit: Found the installation disk and am back up and running with my old-school stand-alone desktop version that doesn't require a subscription.  Ha ha.

[kglad]

adobe hasn't had an acrobat 9 update in many years, so it's not clear where that update arose.

and while you can reinstall but you can't activate so you're limited to 30 days on each computer unless you're willing to expend a lot of time.

[Tiger_words]

Right, that's what I'm saying I had it for years. I paid for the program and installed it and everything was fine. I never needed to update it or anything. Until this week when Adobe decided to force an update on me. And of course they want me to pay. I absolutely hate this company now I will never give them a nickel and I will always tell people how much I hate this company. I've already found a different version that was free which enabled me to do what I needed to do with this document.  I still have to locate the Adobe installation disc to see if I can reinstall it. It's annoying what this company does in order to make money.

[kglad]

why do you think this came from adobe?  ie, what were you trying to do when you were presented with an update?

[Tiger_words]

Well the software that ultimately downloaded is Adobe. I thought I was just updating the reader partly because my version of Acrobat was so old there were never any updates as you pointed out.

And I think I was just editing a document I don't remember because it was a couple days between using it, updating it and then when I realized that it was gone. But it had to have come from Adobe.

[kglad]

just because something is called adobe, doesn't mean it's from adobe. ie, scammers and malware abound.

[Tiger_words]

Well obviously I agree with that. But how did a new/different version of Adobe get installed on my computer? A scammer would do something like that?

[kglad]

what version is installed?

[Tiger_words]

Possibly 12, I am not sure.  I uninstalled it.  I won't use their products again because of this.  
I am 95% sure this is the website: https://get.adobe.com/reader/completion/adm/ so yeah, it's an Adobe product.

[kglad]

that's for reader, not acrobat pro.

[Tiger_words · Accepted solution]

Well I figured it out.  Adobe's Darth Vadar persona surfaced again today and I was able to recreate what happened to my Adobe Acrobat Pro: I tried to open Adobe Reader and it offered an update.  However, in order to update Adobe Reader, it required that all prior versions be uninstalled (See attached screenshot).  A month ago naive me didn't realize that this would uninstall everything (including Acrobat pro) but this time I caught it and declined.  Phew.  But at least this answers the question of whether it came from Adobe - it clearly did.  Terrible practice they've done to sell software.  No wonder I detest Adobe.

[Nancy OShea]

I saw it on the Internet so it MUST be true. 🙄

[Tiger_words]

Except inapplicable in this instance.

[Tiger_words]

See attached culprit

[kglad]

@Tiger_words 

that's pretty clear: to install the current reader you have to sacrifice your acrobat pro.  ie, don't do it.

[Nancy OShea]

MODERN OPTIONS:

FREE Acrobat Reader -- view, comment, print & sign PDF.
https://acrobat.adobe.com/acrobat/pdf-reader.html

Paid Acrobat Pro -- the complete solution for creating and saving PDF.
https://acrobat.adobe.com/acrobat/acrobat-pro.html

[Tiger_words]

"Page not found

Sorry, but the requested page could not be found."

But thanks anyway.  This is exactly why I cannot stand Adobe so thank you for solififying my contempt.  Obviously, the update was foist upon me to get me to pay - $240/year - what a bargain!  And I am well aware of this option, but why should I pay again when I bought a license to software which for the most part worked great?  And your suggestion would require lots of changes and re-learning things and dealing with Adobe's stupid updates that everyone hates.  Fortunately, I found the installation disk so I am up and running with my trusty, standalone Acrobat 9.0 that works swimmingly.

[Tiger_words]

Well in this post I vowed to never give Adobe a nickel again. But I was at a computer where I needed it so I decided to subscribe monthly. Guess what? When I tried to cancel they wanted to whack me $125. 

 

 Truly a reprehensible company. Glad they're getting sued.

[kglad]

you subscribed to an annual subscription.  ie, you made an annual commitment.  with a monthly plan there's no such thing as a penalty for early cancellation. 

learn more about the cancellation terms by selecting your plan type (at the top of the page here), https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/creative-cloud-subscription-terms.html

[jhs_3438]

Tell that to the government who's suing them for this very reason.

[kglad]

currently, us government lawsuits are almost meaningless.  us government losses standard.

at most, if they settle, adobe will make it even more explicit that there's a penalty for early cancellation of an annual subscription.  

but people will still complain no matter how explicit the explanation.

[kglad]

today i'm dealing with someone that wants a refund for cancelling may 10.  here's a copy of the email they received when starting their trial:

We are pleased to welcome you as a user of the trial version of the Premiere Pro Plan product!

After the free trial ends on April 13, 2025, you will be charged €40.29 (gross) per month. Your subscriptions will automatically renew every month until you cancel. The price may change upon renewal. If you cancel your subscription before the end of the free trial, you will not be charged. If you cancel your subscription before April 27, 2025, you will receive a full refund of the amount paid. You can cancel your subscription at any time via your Adobe Account page or by contacting customer service. You also agree to the Terms of Use and the Subscription and Cancellation Terms.

We remind you of your Adobe ID: Use it to log in to your Adobe products and services.

[Nancy OShea]

The message that nobody reads.

[kglad]

@Nancy OShea 

that was good.