How to get rid of Adobe updater

Question

Level 1

15 points

How to get rid of Adobe updater

I recently updated Photoshop to CS5 and I now have an irritating new startup called Adobe Updater. This thing parks itself in the menu bar and slows down startup, and I cannot find where it lives. It is not in any of the startup folders nor in the user account startup item list. Does anyone know how I can get rid of this thing? I try to keep a lean system and I will check for updates myself, I very much dislike all these programs leaping into action when I startup the machine but for some reason the Adobe updater is not following the rules and is being "clever..."

Does anyone know how I can get rid of this thing and how it insinuates itself into the startup process? I would like to make sure that other applications are also not doing the same thing and running code over which I have no control. It's getting like Windows for all love...

Thanks - Lawrence

Mac SE, PowerBook 140, 2 MacMinis, MacBook Pro 17", 24" iMac and a panic of PCs, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Jul 21, 2010 5:53 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Allan Eckert

Level 9

79,512 points

Jul 21, 2010 6:18 AM in response to LawrenceHare

Hi Lawrence;

Have you asked Adobe seeing as how it is their product?

___________________

Allan

Reply

Answer 2

LawrenceHare Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 21, 2010 6:29 AM in response to Allan Eckert

Nope. My main concern is how can one insert a startup program into the Mac startup stream outside of the channels that I know about. And I assume it is not inserting this thing into the OS X UNIX boot process. Hence I thought to ask OS X folks first, thinking it would also be quicker.

Reply

Answer 3

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,792 points

Jul 21, 2010 6:46 AM in response to LawrenceHare

If the update icon isn't sitting up in the menu bar, open any CS5 app and choose Help > Updates. The same updater dialogue will launch. Click on Preferences at the upper right. Turn off the check box for "Notify me of new updates in the menu bar." Click Done, click Quit.

Unlike CS4 and earlier, this is the only way to check for updates from your computer (without just going to Adobe's site and looking), so remember to launch it every so often to see what's available.

Reply

Answer 4

LawrenceHare Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 21, 2010 6:51 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanks, yes, I saw that option. What I wonder though is how did this application get started up? I cannot find it in any of the usual startup places. I work with Windows machines as well as OS X and Linux and there are a whole world of mechanisms to get applications going at startup, some of which are fiendishly tricky to identify. Outside of the Unix startup mechanism that Apple employs to get OS X cranked up, there are the system and user Library/Startupitems and then the list of items in the user account. I did not find this Adobe updater in any of those. So how does it get launched?

Reply

Answer 5

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,792 points

Jul 21, 2010 6:57 AM in response to LawrenceHare

I did not find this Adobe updater in any of those. So how does it get launched?

Good question. I first looked in the normal places too, and found nothing. Tech Tool Pro also has a self placing icon for the menu bar, which can only be disabled from its System Preferences applet.

Reply

Answer 6

Tim Fall

Level 1

65 points

Oct 9, 2010 11:30 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Did anyone ever discover the startup mechanism? I would like to be able to remove it from the startup process and run it manually if thats possible.

Reply

Answer 7

PaulKemp

Level 1

135 points

Oct 9, 2010 11:35 PM in response to LawrenceHare

What folders have you checked? There are user and system /Library/LaunchAgents & /Library/LaunchDaemons that will load items as well.

Reply

Answer 8

Tim Fall

Level 1

65 points

Oct 9, 2010 11:40 PM in response to PaulKemp

Thanks for the quick response. I've checked these and the only slightly relevant thing is a com.adobe.ARM plist in the user LaunchAgents folder. However this appears to be a DRM thing for Acrobat Pro. I've also checked the system list of registered launchd items and found nothing.

Reply

Answer 9

Oct 10, 2010 1:07 AM in response to Tim Fall

Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support > Adobe > Updater (possibly Updater5).

Removing it should do the job, but you'll probably then be irritated by a dialogue box at PS start up saying there are files missing. Don't you just love Adobe?

Reply

Answer 10

Tim Fall

Level 1

65 points

Oct 10, 2010 8:41 PM in response to noondaywitch

While this would remove the updater, it doesn't solve the problem of how the update is running on startup. It also potentially wouldn't remove any mechanism that the updater is using to run itself on startup.

Reply

Answer 11

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Oct 10, 2010 9:00 PM in response to Tim Fall

Did you check the login items - System Preferences/Accounts/Login items

Reply

Answer 12

Tim Fall

Level 1

65 points

Oct 10, 2010 9:48 PM in response to CMCSK

Yes, we've looked there as well.

Here's what's been tried already (from above posts):

System and User:
Library/Launch Agents
Library/Launch Daemons

/Library/Startup Items
User Login Items

This should cover all the proper ways to launch items at startup or login time.

Reply

Answer 13

Oct 11, 2010 2:36 AM in response to Tim Fall

Acrobat Reader has or had a similar annoyance, from v8 upwards. The updater app is contained somewhere within the app bundle, as is an install checklist. If the updater doesn't live in /Library/AppSupport, it will be copied as long as the former 2 entities exist. It's been one reason for me to stick with AcroRead v7...
Have a look on the ArsTechnica MacAch — if I remember correctly the exact recipe to get rid of the updater AND of the self-repair is still online there.

Reply

Answer 14

Nov 3, 2010 12:10 AM in response to PaulKemp

I have com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plst in /Library/launchagents. Checked the content and there are these lines (amongst others)

<string>/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CS5ServiceManager/CS5ServiceManager.app/Contents/MacOS/CS5Service Manager</string>
<string>-launchedbylogin</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>

would this be the app? I tried starting it from the finder but it does not.

Reply

Answer 15

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Nov 3, 2010 10:39 AM in response to Tim Fall

Do a search for updater.app and you find that there's one inside Adobe Reader and I suspect any other Adobe product. What's triggering it? I haven't the faintest, but I've disabled it by removing the updater app from all Application Support folders. As others pointed out, contact Adobe, it's their mucked up apps causing the problem.

Reply