Adobe Reader 10.1.4 Lock-Ups

Question

Hello,
When our campus users launch Adobe Reader 10.1.4 after logging on to a campus machine via a network account (with a re-directed app data folder) and launch a PDF from a network location by double-clicking it from Windows Explorer, Adobe Reader will launch, but then lock up and enter a "Not Responding" state after a few seconds of working with the PDF. I can only reproduce this issue with both the Enable Protected Mode at startup and the Show me messages when I launch Reader boxes checked (if either box is unchecked, the lock-up does not occur). If I wait long enough, sometimes, the "Not Responding" state will end and I will be able to view the PDF without issues. However, after a single reboot, the problem re-occurs. Our campus machines are on the 32-bit Windows 7 OS.
I have been able to reproduce this issue in Adobe Reader 10.1.2, 10.1.3, and 10.1.4, but not in Adobe Reader 10.1.1. I am not able to reproduce this issue using a local account opening a local PDF, a local account opening a network PDF, or using a network account to open a local PDF. The issue also does not occur if the user first launches Adobe Reader, and then opens the network PDF using File->Open. In other words, the issue only occurs when a network account opens a network PDF by double-clicking on it from Windows Explorer.
I did some research in the Adobe Reader forums, and here are the workarounds that I found and my success with them:
1) Uncheck Enable Protected Mode at startup
As I stated before, this does work around the problem, but also decreases security. As a troubleshooting step, I tried using the Adobe Reader documentation to white-list everything that Protected Mode was 'blocking'. The lock-ups still occurred even though the Protected Mode log was empty (after whitelisting) and did not indicate that anything was being blocked.
2) Disable Enable Hardware rendering for legacy video cards
This workaround did not work for me, even after disabling the legacy video cards and switching  the preferred renderer to software.
3) Uninstall and reinstall Adobe Reader
This workaround was also ineffective.
4) Uncheck Show me messages when I launch Reader
As I stated before, this does work around the problem.
But these are not fixes - just workarounds. Does anyone know what the root problem is and whether or not Adobe will be addressing this issue?
Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Hi, I can't offer any solution just agreements that it isn't just yourselves but others shared experiences:
The lockup began several years ago and subsequent versions of Reader have not altered the lockup problem one bit.
Typically the whole program loads, as does the document (it doesn't matter which PDF, any and every PDF cause lockup), you have about 4 seconds to scroll down or whatever action then... application completely freezes, states "not responding" and usually it remains entirely locked for at least 1 to 2 minutes while it hogs majority of system resources. When it releases, program again fully responds. Closing and reopening only repeats the same bad user experience.
Uninstalling, reintstalling, new versions, have no effect. Inevitably, the main result is to use PDFs significantly less as it is not worth it, yet ultimately it is unavoidable for documents.
Following your 1,2 and 4 has reduced lockup time to around 50 seconds but still not acceptable for regular use. This reduction and the fact that earlier versions on the same system platform worked 100% fine suggest to me it is additional (and for many users, entirely unecessary) Reader functionality such as trying to get messages, check updates (another to turn off), etc. that halt the software from working smoothly as it should rather than any problem with the host system.
I'd be very surprised to hear Adobe are unaware of the problem as there are many messages about this from a search and yet seemingly no definitive solution as far as I can find.
I too will recheck here in hope of a solution emerging.