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+++UPDATE
See if this help:
In the next dialogue box that will open, you may try a few things.
- Run in compatibility mode for MS Windows 8
- Run as Administrator or Change Settings for All Users
- The most important one --> Enable overrride of high DPI Scaling. Select System (Enhanced). You may notice a dramatic improvement of the app.
In addition you can also increase the Paging File size (virtual memory) and/or disable special effects and desktop themes (just for troubleshooting purposes).
In Acrobat , Edit--->> Preferences --->> General--->> Application Startup ---> Disable "Check 2D Graphics Accelerator".
Report back if any of these suggestions improved something.
Disregard my prior guidance. Thanks for noting that.
I didn't read this thread carefully. I thought the issue had to do with every icon turning like black squares or something.
But now that you brought in that observation, in MS Windows there is an easy way to change the icons by right-clicking on the program's short-cut. If you don't have a shortcut to that program in your desktop you'll need to create it first. Then you can use this method:
The icon for the "Acrobat.exe"executable file that is found in C:\ProgramFiles(x86) won't allow change that icon though.
To change it you have to use another MS Windows setting , which according to MS Windows guidance is not recommended and it is not allowed.
But just if you're curious and wish to give it a try you'll need a third party tool.
Stephen can you please share a screenshot of you get in your screen ?
That is not what I meant.
I am trying to help to troubleshoot for all of those who are saying that the Acrobat Pro DC or Reader DC programs are causing the icons in the desktop to turn black.
What I meant with my suggestion is, that unless you uninstall the software that everybody in this discussion is complaining about we won't be able to rule out if Acrobat or Reader are exclusively the only reason why these icons are changing to black.
If the problem disappears when you uninstall any of these Adobe software, to include Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop app, then we can narrow down the problem better.
You can always install the programs back to normal.
The main issue is that if you're a MS Windows user, you would benefit from understanding how the Windows initialization sequence works and be able to spot when exactly does the icons turn to black.
This is old school windows PC repair from over 15 years ago. Understanding this startup sequence can help the user to disect which small routines or programs are loaded up on each of the startup sequences, and be able to spot which exact programs get involved during the launching of the Desktop.
I am only going this far in troubleshooting because some users are reporting that they experience the black icons problems when they log-in to the desktop, for example.
So, it would make sense to me to disable ANY and EVERY Adobe Acrobat programs from the startup programs list. This is another troubleshooting approach that doesn't require uninstalling Acrobat or Reader.
It is completely unnecesary to have so many resourcce intensive programs loading up in the background before you're even able to sign-in to your desktop.
To disbale undesired programs from loading up during the startup sequence of a MS Windows10 computer you can use this approach:
But I prefer to also do this manually in addition to messing around with the built-in Startup settings.
To do this manually you can also open up your Task Manager (CTRL+ALT+DELETE), or also via (Windows Logo Key+R to invoke the "Run" a program dialogue box; type in the provided blank the command "msconfig" ( whithout the quotes) --->>> click OK, and the Task Manager should open... shown in the slide below).
A restart may be required after you disable the startup programs.
After this is done, compare how fast the desktop will load up, and also check if you get desktop icons changing to black soon after you log in to your Desktop.
For future reference, here's a useful oldschool link:
And here's a summarized list of a MS Windows starup sequence:
If you noticed in the last link above you must also check the following directory paths:
- C:\Users\username\Start Menu\Programs\Startup <<<---- the current user startup folder
- C:\Users\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup <<<---- all users startup folder
If you find unwanted programs in those paths listed above delete those startup programs from here (you won't be uninstalling the software, just the shortcut(s) that points to the executables.
Last you can also see if the Task Scheduler is also running programs at random intervals; delete or stop those scheduled tasks if you suspect they could be interfering.
I can't really tell if it is exclusive of Windows 10 because I have MS Windows 10 myself, but I've never experienced this issue (not even since Windows 95!).
The closest symptom that I can compare to this in older versions of MS Windows was usually related to memory leaks, bad RAM sticks, or excessive software running in the background. But not to the point that it would mess the GUI experience of the desktop in a brand new computer.
On the other hand, I've noticed that Adobe Bridge is a little annoying and it does interacts with the windows shell, as it provides its own File Browser that synchronizes files from your PC with the Creative Clous in order to collaborate and distribute files with other Creative Cloud applications.
It is similar to that of Adobe Photoshop in the context that it provides the users with its own file browser. It integrates with your PC and collaborates and snyc these files with other Adobe Creative Cloud programs.
But still all of these assumptions may be irrelevant. Unless we test Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and Adobe Reader DC in MS Windows 8, and/or MS Windows 7 computers to get the same symptons, it is hard to tell if this is only because of MS Windows 10.
My other assumption is that Adobe Acrobat does integrates with Internet Explorer 11. This to me is a problem since the IE11 is slowly been phased out.
Internet Explorer also integrates with the Windows File Explorer and it has security settings and Internet Zones that impact the whole experience when your PC participates in a domain, specially on networks that many users participate by sharing files with security restrictions in place.
But on a local home computer this should be different. And yet, the slide below illustrates how different the native GUI shell integration of the File Explorer in MS Windows 10 lists the files in a given directory path when compared to the integration of Adobe Acrobat's own file explorer GUI shell (and vice versa):
The File Explorer to the left is opened from MS Windows 10. The File Explorer shell on the right in red is opened in Acrobat when I went to Edit--->>>Preferences--->>>Content Editing--->>> click on the "Image Editor" button to search for an image editing program in my computer.
Both file explorers point to to the same directory path : C:\Windows\System32 and the highlight in green is to illustrate that both are selected to list the contents in descending view order (z to a, for example). I've also allowed for hidden files to be viewed.
I've posted this before in 2019 in another thread, and to this day no one in these forums has commented on this or even have anything to say ... not even to troll my observation(s) with some ignorant comments.
But I am not a software developer, nor a software engineer, and much less I am not a forensic examiner.
I've just been repairing PCs for too damn long and this doesn't look normal to me.
That is why I highlighted in yellow the dynamic link library files that are not listed at all in one or the other file explorer windows. Even in the case of MS Windows system files being excluded from the file explorer search with Acrobat , that still doesn't explain why in MS Windows File Explorer the same behavior is noticed. Maybe this could be related to the trusted owner ( a process) for each of the listed files, or the last written (modified) state of files that are continuously in use... Who knows.
Even if you use the command prompt as Administrator and perform a file search with the "dir" command you'll notice the same. Is just weird.
That being the case, does this answer your question if the problem is or could only be related to MS Windows10?
When I posted the same observation back in 2019 I was using MS Windows 7 Home Edition and I noticed the same problem then.
Very probably Dov Isaacs, Principal Scientist at Adobe Systems Incorporated, won't agree with what I am about to say and say is irrelevant, but there seems to be a relationship with these kind of problems as Adobe Acrobat and Reader DC are both deployed as 32 bit applications on top of 64 bit MS Windows operating systems.
I'm not even going to the macOS side of the house, and the problems that those users are always complaining about (even with the 64 bit version of Acrobat on top of 64 bit macOS versions).
If my slide above proves a point ( or even lack of a point), then would it make sense if I assume that the Acrobat's or Adobe Reader's connector icons cache folder to be the most discernible directory that never cease to stop overinflating itself in Windows?
It can't be deleted, but it can be emptied. In just a few minutes it will overpopulate with connector icons again.
This may or may not have anything to do with the original inquiry of this thread.
But then again, loging in to the Dektop + black icons + overinflating connectors Icons cache folder + unexplainable file explorer GUI shells behavior sounds like a problem to me that deserves careful examination.
That is so interesting. It makes a lot of sense to me.
I've even seen errors in calculated fields in a PDF when the font size that is displayed in a field object is too close to the margins. Expanding or enlarging the fields width of fix that problem. Seems like a similar analogy of what you've mentioned in terms of bits and bytes.
But here's an additional slide that illustrates some of the inconsistent behavior with the File system integration :
What I'm thinking is, if any the Acrobat's connector Icons database (wherever it resides) is a problem related to how the Acrobat file system integration interacts inconsistently with the shell of the operating system when compared to the other programs doing the same file exploring action...just food for thought..
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