Adobe Reader 9 installs shovelware

Yes, you read that right — Adobe Reader 9 installer carries shovelware which gets installed without your consent even if you cancel the setup.

How did I found out? I went to Google, searched for "Adobe Reader" and the first link led me to a download page over at adobe.com. That page has the following text:

(includes Acrobat.com on Adobe AIR)

Yeah, right. But I thought I can chose not to install them so I downloaded AdbeRdr90_en_US.exe and ran it. As usual with Adobe Reader installers the first phase looks like this:

At that point I usually search for unpacked second installer files in the %TEMP% folder, copy them to a safe place and delete the original installer executable so I don't have to wait for that horribly slow decompression next time I have to install Adobe Reader.

This time around, there was no unpacked installer other than the small .msi file. Regardless of that I got the standard setup dialog:

I was annoyed by not being able to find the second installer's files so I hit Cancel, then Yes and finally Finish which closed the second installer, and then I noticed some unusual disk activity before the first, outer installer, exited on its own.

I decided to immediately investigate this strange phenomenon. I clicked on Start button and... well, see for yourself:

Can you imagine my surprise when I have noticed that Acrobat.com shortcut in the root of my Start Menu?

I was like "WTF?!? Haven't I just clicked THREE buttons in a row (Cancel, Yes, and Finish) to tell the freaking installer NOT TO MAKE ANY CHANGES ON MY SYSTEM?!?"

I opened the Control Panel, clicked on Add or Remove Programs and there it was:

Moreover, just as they promised on the download page, they shoveled Adobe AIR down my throat as well:

Of course, I immediately got pissed off and uninstalled both. Uninstalling Acrobat.com was easy, but uninstalling Adobe AIR was a bit convoluted:

Hitting the Uninstall button brought up this dialog:

Needless to say, if you just go on and hit Ok, you will get the following error message:

At that point majority of Windows users would just give up and leave it be. We are now at the very core of this rant — I believe that this has been done intentionally to confuse users into leaving Adobe AIR installed.

This is the moment to ask yourself "What's wrong with that?" and indeed something is wrong:

• Adobe Reader 9 installer modifies your computer even if you cancel the installation
• It installs additional components after you cancel the installation and does that without your knowledge or consent
• It makes uninstallation of Adobe AIR a challenge for an Average Joe in a bid to keep it installed

Note that I am not analyzing usefullness or privacy implications of Acrobat.com and Adobe AIR components — I am simply pointing out what I consider completely unacceptable installer behavior. With that in mind, I sincerely hope that Adobe will get some serious bashing over this issue from the press — I'll do my best to get their attention.