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Topic: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 ! (Read 8404 times) previous topic - next topic

PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Just a caution.

I have been delighted with Adobe Reader 7 for the last few months.  This week I received an electronic airplane ticket as a pdf document.  When I tried to open it, IE7 wouldn't recognize the association with Reader.  So I went to the Reader site, and got Adobe Reader 8.1.2. 

DON"T DO THAT if you don't want to risk some grief.

It will download, and seems to install, but it won't open for me (running Windows XP Pro).  I've associated it with my PDF extension, but double clicking any PDF gives a momentary glimpse of the pause hourglass, then nothing.  The program won't open from the Start/Programs menu nor will it run from Start/Run.  Uninstalling didn't help, because the installation already deleted version 7, and all you can download right now from the Adobe site is version 8.1.2.  I have the original version 7 and 7.05 exe files, so I'll try to instal one of them from those.  With luck, it will work.

I imagine this is some sort of glitch that will be fixed but there's no support to complain to. 

Since most of my band library is now in pdf format, I thought I was screwed.  Fortunately, I found freeware Foxit Reader 2.1 f   which is freeware from http://www.foxitsoftware.com/.  It downloaded and installed quickly, and looks good.

If Adobe 7.05 will instal again, good, but I'm not sure just now whether I'll go back to it or stay with Foxit.

Re: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Reply #1 –
One thing that Adobe does and annoys the heck out of me is put upgrade checks and requests such that the dialogs can't be seen. Try minimising windows, or alt-tabbing just to see if there's some sort of upgrade request waiting for you.
1) Often occurs at startup of the program
2) Dialog may be hidden (popunder) and not appear in task bar
3) Program will look like it has frozen

Adobe make generally good products, but this behaviour is a big turn off for me.

Re: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Reply #2 –
David,
I'm using Acrobat Reader 8.1.2 without any problems - and it is required here if one wants to use the South African Revenue Services' eFiling system.
(It MIGHT just be that you have an old version of NWORN3.ttf on your PC - if this is a re-visit of the grief I had in 2002 when I installed acrobat 4.0 -  which would thrash for about 3 minutes and then die.

When you open NWORN3.ttf (properties) and lower down you see "Version 3.02" - that is the version which had been corrected. There's also another version on the Scriptorium, edited by Algeyer.

On the other hand...
I've been picking up grief with NOTEROW.ttf and PDF995:
Everywhere that I used the "D" of Noterow for a larger dim. hairpin,  PDF995 crashed out with the 
error message (on the following page):
ERROR: undefined

OFFENDING COMMAND: BASE

STACK:

/D
Where I substituted the "D" glyph with "C", PDF995 ran normally.

Re: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Reply #3 –
I have been using Adobe Acrobat Reader 8.1.2 with Win XP Home with no problems for about 2 mos. now.  This version installed IIRC without even a reboot being necessary, though past versions have required up to 3 reboots for them to work successfully.  There would seem to be nothing fundamentally incompatible between XP and AAR 8.1.2.  Perhaps some advanced option in IE or your anti-virus software is interfering with the installation?  Or maybe the magical computer attitude adjuster of a reboot will work wonders!

Re: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Reply #4 –
Hi Haymo,
The files that won't open were pdf's created with by others, some downloaded as pdf's; others created by me as pdf's from other applications through PDFCreator.exe; and a lot of NWC and NWC2 files printed to pdf with PDFCreator.  Since the ones that did not originate on my system and didn't have music notation in them didn't open, I don't think it's a problem with the NWC fonts.  I would think that if that were the problem, Reader would at least open and show no content, but it won't even open.  Thanks for the tip, though.

Instead of using NWOrn or Noterow for hairpins, have you tried NWC2?  It's hairpins are pretty good nowadays.

I'm not in distress since I now have Foxit.  If I can recover Adobe Reader 7, fine, but I'm not too worried about it.  I won't try the upgade to 8.1.2, but perhaps when 8.1.3 comes out, it will fix whatever it was that my system didn't like.

Hi Andrew,
I haven't been to bonkered by the stuff you mention.  Just this time it was an unpleasant surprise, having a functional Adobe Reader 7 on my system, that when I went to open my e-ticket that came by pdf my computer announced I didn't have a compatible program to open it.  Hence the unsuccessful upgrade saga began...

Many thanks, guys.

Re: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Reply #5 –
Hi Milton
It could well be Norton Internet Security - the firewall could be causing problems.  However, the second or third time I downloaded Reader 8.1.2, I did it with Security turned off, and that didn't change anything.  So I've uninstalled Reader until I'm confident I can download it in the future.

I was quite happy with NIS2007, once I managed to instal it with a great deal of telephone help from a customer service person in India, but while NIS2008 was an easy upgrade, it  has a lot happening in the background and the interface doesn't make it easy to control. 

I've been using XP Pro for a couple of years, but I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of it.  Maybe it's just some setting in it that I need to tweak.  But as I just wrote, I'm not too worried at the moment.

Re: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Reply #6 –
David,
Thanks.
1 . I'm using NWC2 (but with "increase spacing for longer notes" switched OFF - to save space).
Sometimes, for a "fade/swell" on a single note, on a single staff, then NWC2 looks really miserable - the hairpin looks just like an accent.
This is where Noterow comes in. (When I'm too lazy to create an empty, layered  staff just to enter a few "preserve width" spaces - or in the present case, where there are 35 staves in the file already.)

Does "FOXIT" allow you to fill in PDF-forms and re-submit?

2. Your problem with Acrobat Reader 8.1.2, sounds like an exact repeat of the trouble I  had in 2002.
In my case, completely removing the defective NWORN font from my PC, cured everything instantly.

3. To get 8.1.2 to work: If advice from others should not provide a cure, you might consider backingup ALL non-essential fonts onto CD, removing them from your PC, rebooting, try re-installing Acrobat Reader 8.1.2 and look what happens.

Hope this helps.

Re: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Reply #7 –
Hi again, Haymo
Quote
Sometimes, for a "fade/swell" on a single note, on a single staff, then NWC2 looks really miserable - the hairpin looks just like an accent.

Yes, I thought I recalled that, and I was going to suggest this as a workaround. 

!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.0,Single)
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:0|Opts:Diminuendo
|Note|Dur:8th,Grace|Pos:0|Opts:Diminuendo,Muted|Visibility:Never
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

When I checked the program before posting my message, I didn't see the problem because I did have the increase spacing option turned on, so I assumed it had been fixed in one of the updates.  However, I see that with the option turned off, the trick is needed.

Quote
Does "FOXIT" allow you to fill in PDF-forms and re-submit?
I don't know; it isn't something I've used either program for yet. The easiest way to check would be to download the free version and check it out.  It seems to be available in the program, but maybe not the freeware version. http://www.foxitsoftware.com/

Quote
Your problem with Acrobat Reader 8.1.2, sounds like an exact repeat of the trouble I  had in 2002...To get 8.1.2 to work: ... consider backing up ALL non-essential fonts onto CD, removing them from your PC, rebooting, try re-installing Acrobat Reader 8.1.2 and look what happens.
I have many fonts that I've installed over the years - most are essential in that they are used in one file or another, but I hear you.  I will give it a try when I have time to spend recovering from the inevitable problems I always have when I tinker.  I'm pretty good at screwing things up at the worst possible time (grin).  Thanks for the tip; I'll let you know when I've tried it (if I haven't fried my computer...)

Re: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Reply #8 –
Quote
Does "FOXIT" allow you to fill in PDF-forms and re-submit?

From the Foxit Software site, from among the list of features for the free PDF reader:

"Advanced PDF form operations, such as saving filled-out forms and import/export forms, free for personal usage only"

Don't know if it is 100% compatible with forms created with Adobe, but I understand that Foxit Software REALLY wants to be your PDF creator/reader replacement, so they do try to match Adobe features tit for tat.
John

Re: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Reply #9 –
Hi everyone. 

I had a similar problem when I installed Adobe Reader 8 on my machine (win 2000).  Uninstall did not work either.  Searching through Task Manager-Processes revealed some seemingly stray Adobe files running.  Ending these processes allowed ver8 to be removed (manually), and I reinstalled 7.0.9.  I still have the install EXE (of 7.0.9) if David, or anyone else needs it.  Please post back with your contact details if you would like it.

Re: PDF ?? - watch out for Adobe Reader 8.1.2 !

Reply #10 –
I got Adobe Reader 9.0.0. today and am pleased to say it seems to instal and work well. 

Source http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

It detected some previous installation error, undid it and carried merrily along.  I imagine the previous installation error was what prevented me from being able to use version 8 or regress to earlier versions.

I must say I appreciated FoxIt Reader, but it's nice to be back in familiar territory.  If it keeps running...