
When you install Adobe Acrobat Reader DC on your computer two processes related to it AdobeARM.exe and reader_sl.exe are automatically set to run at Windows startup, you can notice them running under the Processes tab in Task Manager. Let us see more details about these two processes before knowing how to disable or delete them.
AdobeARM.exe is Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager that checks for Reader updates and installs them when found without requiring the intervention of the user. FYI, Adobe Reader is configured to automatically install updates to keep you always on a secured version.
How to disable or Stop armsvc.exe of Adobe Reader?
reader_sl.exe
On the other hand, reader_sl.exe is another process that has the description Adobe Acrobat SpeedLauncher and it runs from the path ‘ C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 11.0\Reader’ and this process shortens the time needed to start reader by preloading its components.
You can’t disable or delete this file, if you delete it, Windows configures Adobe Reader and that file gets added to the Reader folder mentioned above when you launch the Reader. So forget about disabling reader_sl.exe, it also doesn’t hog system resources.
Without AdobeARM.exe process Adobe Reader can function, if you think this process is consuming your valuable system resources, then here is how you can disable it.
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How to disable AdobeARM.exe
1. Open ‘Run’ command dialog using Win+R and type msconfig and press Enter
2. In the system configuration dialog, click ‘Startup’ and remove tick mark for ‘Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager’, click ‘OK’ to apply the changes.
How to disable Automatic Updates of Adobe Reader X
Note: While we and Adobe recommend to automatically install updates, follow the steps mentioned in this article at your own risk, we’re not responsible for the damage that incur in your computer.
I just killed 5 reader_sl.exe processes on my Citrix servers consuming 100% cpu. It is a resource killer.
The Update tab is not there.
Which version of Adobe Reader are you using?
No startup items appear in the Startup tab of my System Config dialog box. The offending process is also not present in the Task Manager Startup tab. I kill this process a zillion times a day and it’s driving me CRAZY!