cannot get rid of Acrobat 2.1 1

[Gswiss]

On a pc running under XP Home SP2, Acrobat Reader 6 was installed and running occasionally whenever required. Recently, whenever I double-click on a pdf file, Acrobat 2.1 is launched and hangs.

I noticed that no PDF entry exists under Tools - Folder Options - File Types.

I got rid of all Adobe or Acrobat references on the PC (including registry entries) and re-installed Acrobat 6. I still get 2.1 when I try to open a pdf file. Still no pdf reference in File Type list.

I got rid of all spywares using AdAware and Spybot to no avail. I uninstalled Acrobat 6 and still get 2.1 opening and hanging at every attempt to open a pdf file.

Any suggestion is welcome.

 

[diogenes10]

I don't have time for the googling on this right now - so just a comment.

Some programs ( Norton and McAfee antivirus for example ) can require a lot more steps ( file removals, folder removals, registry editing ) than just the program uninstall to get their information out of the system. I think Adobe can be another of those. I had a real mess at one point on a win98 machine with an old version of Acrobat capture, a version of acrobat, and a couple of versions of acrobat reader. I had to go through a process like that.

It took some searching, but at the time I was dealing with that issue there were some instructions buried on the adobe site for a complete removal or uninstall and I think they related to versions 3, 4, and 5. Try some combination of googling for info and specific searching on the adobe site.

If you are unable to find anything, hunt for steps for complete removal of McAfee antivirus 5 and then follow the same concept for adobe, substituting your best guesses for adobe references in the file/folder deletions and registry edits.

I hope this helps.

 

[Gswiss]

I followed a similar approach and got to the bottom of the defect. I investigated all program file entries on the system and came across an old Acroread.exe which I deleted. Not only did I get rid of the launching of Acrobat 2.1 for all pdf files, but also obtaining appropriate references in the File Type inventory when I installed Acrobat 6 again.

Thank you for your comments.

 

[diogenes10]

Great.

Those kinds of conflicts are really annoying and I'm glad you were able to get it fixed.