Adobe Reader Wants Sensitive Email Details

Question

When I run Adobe Reader, it tells me:

Either there is no default mail client or the current mail
client cannot fulfill the messaging request. Please run Microsoft
Outlook and set it as the default mail client.

I have a couple of issues with this:

1) It presupposes everyone has Microsoft Office installed. Not all home users have the budget or inclination for this.

2) It presupposes everyone wants Microsoft Outlook to be their default mail client.

3) I have Microsoft Office (incl. Outlook) installed and set as my default mail client. Even if I make it the default mail client from within the Adobe Reader Preferences, that doesn't stop the dialog appearing.

4) I thought I'd give Adobe Reader a new email address in the preferences, just to get it to stop bugging me. I notice, though, that it want's the SMTP and POP addresses and the account password? They have got to be kidding?

I just want to view PDF files. How do I get the message to go away without telling Adobe my life story, giving them my mother's maiden name, my favourite movie, my place of birth, the name of my first goldfish and emptying the contents of my wallet for them?

Answer 1

Quoting an Adobe Forum message you can disable all email and sharing menus, but you'll have to try if this also stops Adobe from wanting to access Outlook. If not, you can still use this but you'd have to configure Outlook once.

1. Disable the Share feature by setting bEnableShareFile to 0.
   This disabled the 'Attach to E-mail...' under the File menu

2. Put a js file in the JavaScripts folder with this line:
   app.hideMenuItem("Email");
   This hides the File menu

3. Open the registry and populate
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\10.0\AVGeneral\cCommonToolsDesktop
   with the buttons you want:

   "a0"="Save"
   "a1"="Print"
   "a2"="PrevPage"
   "a3"="NextPage"
   "a4"="GoToPage"
   "a5"="ZoomViewOut"
   "a6"="ZoomViewIn"
   "a7"="ZoomTo"
   "a8"="ContinuousFitWidth"
   "a9"="OnePageFitPage"
   "a10"="Text"
   "a11"="Highlight"
   "a12"="ReadingMode"

"a13"="Share" would be the Share button that you don't want.
This can be overridden by the user and will overwrite any customisations.