[SOLVED] Adobe Reader 8.1.2 Freezes Entire Computer

Under Vista, opening some PDF's can crash Adobe Reader 8.1 so badly that the entire computer can freeze up and only a hard reboot is possible. The conflict is threefold: Reader's GPU acceleration, Vista's UAC, and temp folder security.

I fixed it by adjusting the following in Reader's preferences (not all steps may be necessary):
  • Automatic Default Page Layout
  • Automatic Default Zoom
  • Hardware rendering for legacy video cards
  • PDF browser plugin, fast web view (irrelevant to this, though)
  • Acrobat JavaScript
  • Preferred Media Player (.i.e., set to Windows Media Player)
  • Multimedia operations
  • Verify signatures when opened
  • Check spelling when typing
  • External content (off by default, I think)
Most importantly, adjust the properties for AcroRd32.exe to run in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2.

Cross-posted from http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3302386#post3302386
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