Acrobat Reader (I'm running the latest version 8.0.0) has started exhibiting very peculiar behaviour recently. Whilst I am reluctant to blame DO, because I can't see any reason why it should be at fault, the evidence suggests otherwise.
Basically the problem is that if I double-click on a .pdf document from inside DO, Acrobat Reader reader opens up with the selected file loaded, works normally for about 5 seconds, then immediately shuts itself down, leaving no trace in memory.
If I load Reader and then open the document from the File menu - no problem. If I double click on a .PDF from within Explorer - No Problem. I can even single-click on a .PDF within DO, open a viewer pane and work with the document - No Problem. The only thing I CAN'T do is double-click on a .pdf within DO.
Can anyone explain this strange behaviour? It's driving me nuts!
If your filetype is the same then I would start checking whether turning off anti-virus solves the problem. Opus is obviously launching AcroRd32.exe fine so the question is what is closing it afterwards.
If you have ZoneAlarm, in particular, then that is known to arbitrarily kill processes for no good reason a few seconds after they start.
Thanks for the response. To cover your points in order ..
The .PDF filetype is correctly set to open files with "..ACRORD32.exe" "%1"
Turning off anti-virus has no effect on the problem.
I AM running ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite v8.5.737.000 and I have not experienced unexpected shut-downs before. Whilst I don't dispute the fact that ZA has this problem, it seems strange that it should only manifest itself when attempting to launch a .pdf from within DO and not with any other filetype or application.
I have even re-installed Acrobat Reader to try and solve the problem, but that made no difference either. Guess I'll have to consider it one of life#'s mysteries and view PDFs with the DO plug-in instead. Not really a major problem, just an annoyance.
I bet you £50 that it's Zone Alarm and the problem will go away if you disable or uninstall ZA. (Just disabling ZA doesn't always remove its effects, apparently.)
If I'm wrong I'll PayPal you the money.
It wouldn't surprise me if ZA allows Explorer to launch apps like Adobe Reader but when it detects another program (oh no!) running an application (oh no!) it decides to kill it.
ZA does the same thing to Opus itself (and many other programs) sometimes, if ZA's signatures haven't been updated to recognise the new dopus.exe binary. Shoot first, ask questions later isn't a great recipe for system stability.
Oh! One idea: Launch Adobe Reader using Explorer and then turn off the auto-update feature. ZA may only be killing Adobe Reader when Adobe Reader tried to connect to the Internet to check for updates. Why ZA wouldn't recognise Adobe Reader as a trusted application when launched by Opus I don't know, but it's possible.
It is very annoying that ZA will happily kill an application without telling you that it did it (making it look like the app exiting or crashed on its own), let alone why it did it or that it thinks you have something dangerous enough to need killing (surely in that case the user would want to be informed, even if ZA is completely wrong!).
It's a mystery why ZA works this way, but that seems to be how it works according to many people, and not just in relation to Opus.
ZA causes more problems than it prevents and I'll bet £50 on it.
FWIW I've experienced something similar with Acrobat Reader 8 but in my situation Opus wasn't involved, Firefox was. Any time I opened a pdf file from Firefox it did exactly the same thing, popped up for a few seconds then completely closed and the Acrobat exited. Ironically the pdf file would always open normally from Opus or IE.
I don't use ZA, only the standard XP2 firewall and here's the kicker. After about a month of this, the problem went away.
OK, OK. I've heard a lot about ZA in recent weeks and did experience problems myself when attempting to upgrade from version 6 to 7, eventually having to remove version 7 (with a lot of telephone support from ZoneLabs) and go back to the older version.
Guess it's time to take the plunge and change the system altogether. I've tried in the past, and rejected for various reasons, Norton, CA, McAfee and Panda. The only two left that look effective are Kaspersky and BitDefender. My inclination is to go for BitDefender as it seems a bit more complete.
Does anyone have any views on the relative merits of these two systems?
I use NOD32 for anti-virus/spyware and it seems good. I've used Kasperspy in the past, back when it was AVP, and it was good then but I don't know what it's like now.
Can't comment on the others, and I don't really know of a good software firewall to recommend. Hardware solutions work better, IMO, so I let my ADSL router/modem take care of the firewall and also use the XP/Vista firewalls for a bit of added protection, just in case.
Same here, and I'll give you two good reasons to start using it yourself:
1: Nod32 uses very little system resources compared to other anti virus software.
2: Nod32 has a very low response time, compared to other anti virus software
Google some on "Nod32 review" and you can check it out yourself.
As for a firewall.....I agree with nudel about the hardware solutions.
If you really need to set up a software firewall, try Sygate.
It can be a hassle to setup if you lack the knowledge, but you can find faqs/tut's all over the net.
I can tell you from experience this software firewall has the best performance compared to ZA or Blackice.
Note: I tested Sygate Personal Firewall when it was still Sygate, as of end 2005 Symantec(Norton) took over, so I don't know about recent experiences with this product.
