Disable Adobe Updater

Martin Brinkmann
Oct 4, 2008
Updated • Dec 3, 2012
Tutorials
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22

Adobe installs a software called Adobe Updater with many of its products. The updater will automatically connect to the Internet to check for updates for supported and installed Adobe products. Adobe Updater, that's the official name of the application, will be installed in its own folder on the system.

Most users probably do not mind the regular automatic update checks but some might prefer to update Adobe software products manually. This is important in business environments where patches are extensively tested before applied to client machines.

It is actually not a big problem to disable Adobe Updater if an Internet connection is available. All that needs to be done is to execute the Adobe_Updater.exe file that is located in the Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Updater6 directory on the hard drive. The application will perform an update check and notify the user about updates. The updates won't be installed however until the user clicks on the Download And Install Updates button.

A click on Preferences will load the configuration screen shown in the above screenshot. Unchecking the "Automatically check for Adobe updates" box will do the trick. Mac OSX users can basically do the same. The location of the Adobe Updater program on their system is /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Utilities/Adobe Updater5/.

Update: Adobe Updater is available as a separate download from the Adobe website. The program has not been updated since 2009, which may indicate that the program is either no longer used by Adobe, or integrated into their software programs by default to make external installations unnecessary.

The updater, according to the product page, fixes "networking problems, "speed and cpu problems", "stability problems" and some Internet Explorer related issues.

The program available for download is only compatible with Adobe Creative Suite 4 software or Creative Suite 4 components. Other Adobe products that are not part of the Suite are not supported.

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Comments

  1. Kevin said on September 23, 2011 at 11:40 pm
    Reply

    I just threw adobe_updater.exe in the trash.

  2. Willie said on August 15, 2011 at 6:19 pm
    Reply

    found the updater 6 but cannot run it to uncheck the box !
    double click on it and it pops :run Vista executable …when i’m still running on XP SP3 .
    My problem ‘s that the updater always comes when starting up my pc ,i tried to uncheck it in the msconfig starting column unsuccessfully ,and it gulped most of my cpu performance …
    Is it simpler to delete it forever?

  3. Rufus McDufus said on July 27, 2010 at 10:27 pm
    Reply

    Just found our: find the Adobe_Update.exe file. It could be in one of several places – for me it was in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Updater6

    Just rename the Adobe_Update.exe to Adobe_Update.OLD.

  4. Rufus McDufus said on July 27, 2010 at 10:21 pm
    Reply

    “It is actually not a big problem to disable Adobe Updater if an Internet connection”

    Well that’s fine and dandy if you have an intertet connection but WTF are you supposed to do if you don’t.

  5. Brooke said on June 3, 2010 at 12:59 am
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    thank you sooo much.

  6. Shahab said on May 8, 2010 at 7:40 am
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    Sorry, I find the updater.exe but on clicking it, it started to update which is where the problem exists. when it updates it started asking for activation etc. which i want to avoid. I did not find Adope Update Preference. Does it crop after updating is finished or is there another place to find it out?

    Plz reply, help will be appreciated.

  7. David said on March 11, 2010 at 2:14 pm
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    Hvad er adobe updater og den funktion ??

    Dumt Spørgsmål eller hvad ? :)

  8. Anonymous said on February 11, 2010 at 6:32 am
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    I’m not understand

  9. tiz said on January 5, 2010 at 8:42 pm
    Reply

    nice one!!!!!!great advice!

  10. DMM said on September 18, 2009 at 6:18 pm
    Reply

    I have no Updater folder everywhere in C drive. Please Help. I want a solution different from the Adobe KB and that post.

    1. Bl3sSiNg said on October 29, 2009 at 7:18 pm
      Reply

      Do you have this tool setup on your network somewhere – or just on client system only (you might not have it installed on your local drive – or maybe you removed it already?!)? If so, find the network location (client server where you set it up) and that Adobe_Update.exe file should be easy to be found (maybe a search step will help too?!).

      See you later…

  11. Myk said on July 14, 2009 at 3:45 am
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    We blocked adobe updater at the firewall after it blew out our data allowance by checking for updates every time a user opened reader/a pdf

    Because the updater cannot find an internet connection it cannot be disabled

    I simply rename the updater to adobe_updater.old

    Adobe want fix it so we did ;o)

  12. Dr. Mike Wendell said on May 17, 2009 at 9:24 pm
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    For us, Adobe Updater was under Documents and Settings/{Admin user}/Local Settings/Application Data/Adobe/Updater6/

  13. udey rishi said on March 14, 2009 at 1:53 pm
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    i can’t find the file mentioned here, i.e., adobe_updater.exe. Same is the cae with the path mentioned here. although i could find a similar path, C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Updater5. but there was no such file. what to do?

    i have adobe reader 8 installed in windows vista ultimate.

  14. Joey Meden said on March 13, 2009 at 3:57 am
    Reply

    DAD!? You’re alive????
    not my puter… i got all my games on der, and play starcreft

  15. Frank Meden said on March 1, 2009 at 2:12 pm
    Reply

    I’m not dead. We’re just divorced. I want my puter back, too.

  16. Marlyn Meden said on January 23, 2009 at 10:07 pm
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    I receive adobe updater pop ups, but I do not have a password. [My husband, who died last a
    May may have had one, but I cannot find a record of one.] I assume I would want to update. I assume it is free.
    Thanks,
    Marilyn

  17. joan said on December 19, 2008 at 5:25 am
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    thank you so much, you saved me much aggravation, best advice out there!!!

  18. Shingi Mushipe said on November 14, 2008 at 9:35 am
    Reply

    Great advice, thanks!

  19. Dogma said on October 5, 2008 at 5:25 am
    Reply

    To lily: Because he is talking about Adobe in general, and not Acrobat.

  20. lily said on October 5, 2008 at 2:44 am
    Reply

    why not just use foxit, free and lighter on resource

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