Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional w/ Windows 8.1

Question

Previously I had Windows Vista Home Basic and everything ran smoothly with Acrobat.  One thing that I loved was if I ran out of ink or could not print for some other reason, I had Adobe in the list of printers.  Well Adobe is not showing up in the list of printers nor can I get it to show up there by trying several different things.  My Adobe product is Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional and my Windows system is now Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit (though I’m starting to regret this).    I’m seeing that 64 Bit is the problem but really? Is there no fix for this other than spending hundreds of dollars yet again?  I’m beginning to think the computer and software is only for the very-very rich!  Who can afford this stuff with its updates every year!  They really know how to make a buck but what about the people who cannot afford to keep paying for these things?  I know I could switch back but I did a clean install and in order to switch back, I’d have to find the Vista cd again (which I tried) or end up buying that again!  Ugghh  All I want is for the Adobe Acrobat to be available as a printer, the program itself works, just not what I guess Adobe is labeling as the “extras.”  I have tried the below…but none of anything I have tried for the last three days has worked – not even talking to Adobe because they gave me the links to this forum and the online support – because their chat is for the rich who can purchase XI at 400-900 dollars!  Please if anyone knows a solution to this that might help me?
http://forums.adobe.com/message/5876571#5876571
http://forums.adobe.com/message/5616214#5616214
Did the “Customization Wizard” but the other file (Transformer Tool) would not load install – received message “Acrobat Transforms Update did not find any valid installed Acrobat products or you do not have sufficient privileges to update registry.”  Grrrrr
Installed PDFFilter64Setup.msi  --- seemed to accept it but I’m not sure it changed a thing!

Answer 1

Keep in mind that AA8 is just about prior 64-bit and has not been updated to maintain currency with the newer OS and platforms. As a minimum, you need to do the updates to AA8. The updates are important for 64-bit systems. You may or may not get it to work. If it looks like it, please report what parts work and what parts fail. The links try to address the issues, but we need to know what works after you do the updates. Does Acrobat open (your note suggests it does) and appear to work? Does Distiller open and is it able to convert a PS file to a PDF (it can only operate on EPS and PS files)? Is there an Adobe PDF printer present? Can you print to the printer with print-to-file selected? Is AcroTray running in the background.
With a new system, new software is commonly required. In fact, Win 8.1 may have problems with old hardware like VISTA came on. I still run a Dell system with XP on it. Most things run fine (though I have to get rid of malware and such periodically). So you don't really have to update with every change, but you may be on your own with some things -- or depend on forums like this to try to help.