TechNote

Remove Adobe Reader 6.x (Windows XP and 2000)

What's covered

Remove Adobe Reader using the Add Or Remove Programs utility

Manually remove Adobe Reader

To remove Adobe Reader, Adobe recommends that you use the Add Or Remove Programs utility. Optionally, you can manually remove Adobe Reader.

Remove Adobe Reader using the Add Or Remove Programs utility

Adobe recommends that you use the Add Or Remove Programs utility to remove Adobe Reader from the system, which is a simpler procedure than removing Adobe Reader manually.

Note: If you use the Add Or Remove Programs utility and it doesn't remove the Program Files\Acrobat 6.0\Reader folder, manually remove Adobe Reader.

To remove Adobe Reader using the Add Or Remove Programs utility:

1. Quit Adobe Reader.

2. Move any documents (for example, PDF documents) you want to keep from Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader to another folder.

3. Choose Start > Control Panel (Windows XP) or Start > Settings > Control Panel (Windows 2000).

4. Double-click Add Or Remove Programs.

5. If Adobe Acrobat - Reader 6.0.2 appears in the Currently Installed Programs list, choose it, click Remove, and then follow the on-screen instructions to remove the update.

Note: If Acrobat Standard or Professional is installed, the 6.0.2 update will also be removed; however, you can reinstall the update after you remove Adobe Reader.

6. Choose Adobe Reader 6.x, and click Remove.

7. Follow the on-screen instructions to remove Adobe Reader.

If Windows doesn't remove Adobe Reader (for example, it returns an error), do one of the following procedures:

-- Reinstall Adobe Reader to the same folder and then repeat steps 1-7.

-- Manually remove Adobe Reader.

Manually remove Adobe Reader

You can remove Adobe Reader from the system by deleting Adobe Reader and its associated folders and files manually.

To remove Adobe Reader manually:

1. Quit Adobe Reader.

2. Move any documents (for example, PDF documents) you want to keep from Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader to another folder.

3. Enable Windows Explorer to display all filename extensions (for example, filename.ini). (By default, Windows Explorer hides filename extensions it recognizes. For instructions on how to enable Windows Explorer to display filename extensions, see the Notes section of the "Display hidden files and folders" topic in Windows Help.)

4. Restart the computer to ensure that Windows isn't using any of the files you want to delete.

5. Delete Acrobat 6.0 from Program Files\Adobe. If you can't delete PDF.ocx or AcroIEHelper.dll, complete the following procedure:

a. Choose Start > Run, type cmd in the Open box of the Run dialog box, and then click OK.

b. On the first command line of the Command Prompt window, type cd [path name to ActiveX folder], and then press Enter. For example,

cd "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ActiveX"

c. At the prompt, type regsvr32 /u PDF.ocx, and then press Enter. For example, the line might read

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ActiveX>regsvr32 /u PDF.ocx

d. At the prompt, type regsvr32 /u AcroIEHelper.dll, and then press Enter. For example, the line might read

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ActiveX>regsvr32 /u AcroIEHelper.dll

e. Close the Command Prompt window, and then restart the computer.

f. Delete Acrobat 6.0 (or Acrobat 6.0\Reader, if Acrobat Standard or Professional is installed) from Program Files\Adobe.

6. Delete Adobe Reader 6.0, if present, from Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop.

7. Delete Adobe Reader 6.0 from Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs.

8. Delete PrintMe Internet Printing from Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs.

9. If you use eBooks, perform the following tasks:

Note: If Adobe Acrobat Professional or Standard is installed and you plan to use it to read eBooks, performing the tasks in step 9 will prevent Acrobat from finding eBooks. If you want to use Acrobat Professional or Standard to read eBooks, proceed to step 10.

-- Move Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat\6.0\eBooks to another location, and then delete Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat\6.0.

-- Move the contents of Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My eBooks folder to another location, and then delete Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My eBooks.

10. Delete {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-000000000001} from Windows\Installer (Windows XP) or Winnt\Installer (Windows 2000).

11. If Adobe Reader 6.0.2 is installed, delete {AC76BA86-0000-0000-0000-6028747ADE01} from Windows\Installer (Windows XP) or Winnt\Installer (Windows 2000).

Note: If Acrobat Professional or Standard is installed and you don't want to remove it, don't perform steps 12 or 13.

12. If Microsoft Internet Explorer is installed, delete nppdf32.dll from Program Files\Internet Explorer\PLUGINS.

13. If Netscape Navigator 7.x is installed, delete nppdf32.dll from Program Files\Netscape\Netscape\plugins.

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