How to Fix Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Crashing and Slowing Down PC
Question details
The user is experiencing frequent application crashes and noticeable system performance degradation when running Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
- Device & OS
- Windows
- Scenario
- Viewing, editing, or managing PDF documents using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.
- Observed behavior
- Acrobat Pro DC freezes or crashes repeatedly and consumes excessive system resources, causing the entire computer to slow down and making the application difficult to use.
Ensure your computer meets the minimum system requirements for Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and save any open work in other applications to prevent data loss in case of a complete system freeze.
Update and Repair the Acrobat Installation
Applying the latest patches and repairing corrupted installation files is the most common and effective fix for application crashes.
Software bugs or corrupted program files often lead to unexpected crashes and high resource usage. Adobe frequently releases patches to address these stability issues.
Open Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, navigate to the 'Help' menu at the top, and click on 'Check for Updates'. Install any available updates and restart the application.
Go to Windows Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. Check for updates and ensure your operating system is fully up to date.
Inside Acrobat, click on 'Help' again and select 'Repair Installation'. Allow the setup process to fix missing or corrupted files, then restart your computer.
Disable Protected Mode and Check Plugins
Security settings or conflicting third-party plugins can interfere with Acrobat's operations, leading to high resource consumption.
Reset Acrobat Preferences
Corrupted user preference files can cause Acrobat to behave erratically and slow down your PC.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Adobe Acrobat Pro DC using so much CPU and RAM?
High resource usage is typically caused by Acrobat attempting to index large PDF documents, conflicts with third-party antivirus software, or corrupted installation files. Running the built-in 'Repair Installation' tool usually resolves this.
Will disabling Protected Mode put my computer at risk?
Protected Mode limits what malicious code hidden in PDF files can execute on your machine. Disabling it is a useful troubleshooting step to pinpoint crash causes, but it should be turned back on for optimal security. Alternatively, add Acrobat as a trusted application in your security software.
What should I do if Acrobat still crashes after a fresh installation?
If completely reinstalling the software doesn't help, the issue might be tied to your Windows user profile. Try creating a clean local user account in Windows to test the application. If problems persist, collect the crash logs and contact Adobe Support.
