I started having a bunch of problems this week with my notebook jumping to 100% CPU usage. It wasn’t just a temporary problem either — at one point, I walked away for 30 minutes. When I returned to my computer, the problem was still there — and my computer was virtually useless.

After a couple times, I realized that the problem occurred shortly after I started Adobe Reader 8. It happened every time that I opened Adobe Reader 8.

I think that Adobe made a very stupid choice in Adobe Reader 8. Prior to version 8, you, the user, had the choice of whether to allow Adobe Reader to contact Adobe’s web site to look for updates. They removed that choice in Adobe Reader 8. Now, when you start Adobe Reader 8, it automatically starts adobeupdater.exe, which presumably attempts to check for updates.

In my case, the program caused a major problem. It immediately grabbed about 98% of the CPU. Unfortunately, the way it hung (or they way it was programmed), it prevented shutting down, …

Continue reading Adobe Reader 8 Problems - And a Change to Foxit Reader