Bejay I can understand your reluctance to install things but there are precautions you can take to protect yourself. One is coming to places like this forum. Remember if I deliberately gave you false information others would immediately jump in and tell you not to take any notice of my suggestion. This is a huge built in safety factor for anyone who frequents these types of forums. Second. Download from reputable sites. Of course you do not know all of them but filehippo.com - download.com - pcworld.com - tucows.com are a few to start your list of safe sites to visit. Others will add more I suspect. Third. Google your choice and see what comments are out there. Look for the first 4 or 5 pages to see if they all heavily promote the program. If so probably best to stay away because those places get paid for each download and have little interest in whether the program is good, bad or indifferent. Look instead for reviews. Fourth. Learn how to create a Restore point. Then before any install create that Restore point so that if you are not happy with your new program you can simply restore to the point prior to the install.

Yes they should open just fine in Sumatra. And if they should be something special that only adobe can view(rare).. you can reinstall adobe reader,,,, .. new version out today. Firefox I saw a message board todays new standard version reads PDF too. So if you use firefox.. you don't really need adobe or Sumatra or anybodys for basic PDF's.

Historically, I personally have had nothing but self-created concerns when I have tried to remove AR uning just its own uninstaller. The application is deeply configured into the O/S. The cure has been REVO. After using the the application's uninstaller, REVO detects, and if user approved, removes the orphan files and registry entries left by the uninstaller. And, there are many. I am beginning to find Foxit becoming a little bloated. I still use it, but I am vigilant now with every new release. Dar, If you just want to remove your AVG or are having concerns with it please do. However, if you are just trying to follow the lead of others it is really not necessary as AVG is a more than adequate application. Users can sometimes be like sheep. They just follow others blindly, particularly when the application is free. Independent tests show AVG regularly equal to or better than other available applications. Avast is the current "star" of AVs as was one time McAfee, Norton, and AVG. In time it will be replaced by some other release and the migration will start. DA

Thanks for the responses and help. I am not using antivirus and removed the the antivirus before my Adobe problems. I checked/installed updates to Windows and IE. I went to Adobe.com and installed/reinstalled. This morning the issues seem partly fixed. When I am on a web page, such as Yahoo, whether in IE or FF, some of the boxes display and some don't. If I go to a web page page, like Yahoo's tech page, that has mostly boxes that have videos in them, I see the text in the boxes but they are otherwise blank. If I click on the box a video then starts playing. I know this isn't how it's supposed to work, but it's better than it was yesterday. Maybe if I wait till the next Adobe or Windows update it will sort itself out? Thanks for the suggestions. If you think of anything please let me know. I think I will put this laptop away for a week or two and use my Win7 laptop instead. I'll check on updates the next time I get it out and hope for the best.