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Get Rid of Adobe Reader's 6.0.6 PDF 1.6+ Nag Message


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On trying to open a .pdf file of version 1.6 or higher, users of Adobe Reader 6.0.6 are greeted by a message box which says the following:

"This file appears to use a new format that this version of Acrobat does not support. It may not open or display correctly. Adobe recomends that you upgrade to the latest version of our Acrobat products. Please visit our product site at http://www.adobe.com/acrobat"

Which is all very fine and all but, as we all know, we, users of Win 9x/ME cannot update Adobe Reader any further, anymore. So that message above became no more than a nag, and a very irritating one at that! :realmad: The more so, because there is a check box inside the message-box that says "Do not show this message again", but once the check box is checked it works only for the then current session (so that if one closes the archive and opens another, without closing the Adobe Reader, it'll not display the message again, but once it is closed, Adobe Reader will not remember that setting next time: close the Reader, then open it again and there pops the selfsame message-box again...). There is no known way, not even through the registry, to make that nag message go away forever.

On the other hand, I've yet to find a version 1.6 .pdf file that crashes the Reader, or even just fails to open, after you click OK on the nag message box! Of course the may exist, but surely they aren't common. And, even then, the only way to know whether the .pdf will open or not is by trying, so what is that nag useful for?

One workaround, and a very unsatisfactory one at that, but also a good proof-of-concept, consists in hexediting the identifier of the offending .pdf file, so that, instead of the original "%PDF-1.6" (without the inverted double commas), it becomes, say, "%PDF-1.5". This'll suffice for Adobe Reader 6.0.6 to open it without nagging you. I say this is very unsatisfactory, because this workaround means hexediting each and every .pdf file one ever comes in contact with, for the sake of avoiding the nag.

So here is what I consider a way better solution: :w00t:

0) Confirm that you do have Adobe Reader v. 6.0.6: go to the \Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ folder, right-click on AcroRd32.exe, choose Properties, then Version and confirm that it says "File Version: 6.0.6.2007010800" (without the inverted double commas). If it does not, update your version all the way up to 6.0.6;

1) Download the freeware command-line utils.zip, from KanastaCorp, grab inside it just patch.exe and drop it into the \%windir%\command\ folder;

2) Download the AcroRd32.zip attached below, grab inside it AcroRd32.pat and drop it into the \Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ folder;

3) Still in the \Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ folder, right-click on AcroRd32.exe, choose Properties, uncheck the read-only attribute, click Apply and Close, change the .exe extension to .ori, go to Properties again and check once again the the read-only attribute, click Apply and Close;

4) Start a DOS box, go to \Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ folder, and run the following command from the DOS prompt:

patch -p AcroRd32.ori AcroRd32.pat AcroRd32.exe

5) Still in the \Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ folder, right-click on newly created acrord32.exe, choose Properties, and set the read-only attribute.

6) Enjoy your nagless Reader! :yes:

If everything went well, the patched file will now say it has "File Version: 6.0.6.2008011100".

Observe that this patch disables the above-mentioned message only in the case it would have been elicited by the detection of a v. 1.6 or higher .pdf file. There may be other reasons capable of eliciting the selfsame message-box, which are not disabled by this patch. It'll only prevent Adobe Reader 6.0.6 from nagging you because of .pdf files having a version above 1.5! This is by design.

Note for those using GetVer.exe: Somebody at Adobe forgot to update the hexadecimal file version for Adobe Reader 6.0.6, so that if you use GetVer on it, it will say it is "6.0.5.399", which is the same value for Adobe Reader 6.0.5 !!! I corrected this also, so the patched file will say it is "6.0.6.400"...

Of course, as always, the standard disclaimer applies: It works great for me, but YMMV and I can guarantee nothing whatsoever about this patch, and about the use you make of it. So, by deciding to apply it you fully accept that anything you do is of YOUR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY... Hence, if after performing this mod your pc morphs into a purple mushroom and explodes, causing a 10-day worldwide blackout in the process, you know you can't blame me for it! You have been warned.

Update 05-08-08: Thanks to RetroOS's help, now I offer you also the patch for Adobe Acrobat 6.0.6 Standard!

So: AcroRd32.zip contains the patch for Adobe Reader 6.0.6 and Acrofull.zip, the new one for Adobe Acrobat 6.0.6 Standard.

AcroRd32.zip

acrofull.zip

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...Hence, if after performing this mod your pc morphs into a purple mushroom and explodes, causing a 10-day worldwide blackout in the process, you know you can't blame me for it! You have been warned.

So, that's what it was... ;)

What about a patch for Adobe Acrobat 6.0.6 Standard?

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:unsure: Adobe should be petitioned ("asked specifically/politely-as they don't accept honest cricism"*as tried before when Reader messed up a load of files i was preparin' for work related issues!!!) to try and fix Shockwave 10.0.3.24,and11;and possibly let them consider 98SE users still available using their products as we do.I use adobe 5.0 cause issues of Kex0.3.3-0.3.3e do not mix well with adobe 6.0.6 and others.....Never tried Foxit ,yet maybe......???
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I'm all for politeness, don't take me wrong, but I really doubt whether, if they tried real hard, the people at Adobe would ever manage to care less about us Win 9x/ME users than they already do. :whistle: Adobe Reader dropped suport for our OS some time ago, while Shockwave and Flash, nowadays, just mess up one's system instead of working as advertised (they still claim to support Win 9x/ME, probably just because they forgot - or didn't bother - to update their info about them). I don't believe they still test them in our OS anymore. Then again, I may just be a bitter, misguided pessimist. :lol:

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I'm all for politeness, don't take me wrong, but I really doubt whether, if they tried real hard, the people at Adobe would ever manage to care less about us Win 9x/ME users than they already do. :whistle: Adobe Reader dropped suport for our OS some time ago, while Shockwave and Flash, nowadays, just mess up one's system instead of working as advertised (they still claim to support Win 9x/ME, probably just because they forgot - or didn't bother - to update their info about them). I don't believe they still test them in our OS anymore. Then again, I may just be a bitter, misguided pessimist. :lol:

Adobe should be blown to a million pieces for bloating Flash to the CPU hog it is today.

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Foxit is much faster than Acrobat. No problem reading evrything I need.

My PC is Adobe Acrobat Free. (not even a registry entry). :thumbup

Adobe poducts for those who like slowly responding, giga-sized bloatwares with millions of files, like Vista users. Normal they told it's not for us.

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Uh, who uses Acrobat? Foxit Reader is all you'll ever need. :yes:

You're all saying wonders about Foxit Reader, but this thread Acrobat Reader 7, which is not too old, has me thinking things are not quite so simple, after all... :wacko: Would any of you Foxit lovers care to give us an update about which version to use and just about how fantastic it really is, in fact? :whistle:

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I'v heard that Acrobat 7.0 is better than 6.0 but not w98 compatible. Also that Acrobat can be made much faster with some tweaks (but I don't know them).

Foxit is **** fast without tweak and no bloatware. On my PC it opens like Notepad or something.

I guess you can instal the last version.

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I'v heard that Acrobat 7.0 is better than 6.0 but not w98 compatible. Also that Acrobat can be made much faster with some tweaks (but I don't know them).

Foxit is **** fast without tweak and no bloatware. On my PC it opens like Notepad or something.

I guess you can instal the last version.

Well, Foxit Reader isn't exactly Notepad, but it gets close. :) And if you just want a quick look on a PDF, there's always a nice online viewer at http://view.samurajdata.se/ . :thumbup

Edited by Th3_uN1Qu3
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 9 months later...

I use Acrobat Reader 5, even on my WinXP machine.

It opens very fast and I had no problems with it so far.

Of course the nag message is annoying but I got used to it.

90% of the pdf files I encounter are compatible with Acrobat Reader 5 and therefore I don't even get this message.

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