# Adobe Acrobat



## SeaBreeze (Sep 11, 2013)

Is Adobe Acrobat needed for viewing video clips?  There's an Adobe Reader 9 icon on my desktop, but I've never downloaded anything or used it.  I have a slow dial-up connection, Windows 7 and IE9, but I can't view even the shortest video clip on my computer.  They take forever to buffer, like a half hour for a 1 minute clip, then it still can't be viewed.  

 I'm not very knowledgeable about computers, and I hesitate to make any changes whatsoever on my system, as we both share it and I don't want it down.  I already have a Dell Inspiron that was only a couple of years old, sitting on the floor, waiting to be tossed.  The power light goes on in the back, but the button that turns it on does not work at all.  Not willing to pay a geek to fix it, already have a Lenovo replacement.  I know...


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## SifuPhil (Sep 11, 2013)

I believe Acrobat is used for .PDF-formatted documents - mainly reading them, but with certain upgrades you can also alter them or create new ones. It has nothing to do with videos.

Now if you have Adobe Flash Player that's a different story - that's pretty much required equipment these days for a lot of things. If you ever get a notification to upgrade your Flash Player to the newest version you should probably do it.

I would think if you're using an older computer it could be the limited amount of RAM (internal memory) you have, or perhaps your ISP (Internet Service Provider) is just slowing up. I've noticed mine started getting a bit slower in the afternoons the last few days - guess what? School is starting again! All the kids come home at 3pm or so, and that's when the slow-down starts.


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## Diwundrin (Sep 11, 2013)

I was on that dial-up road for longer than sanity could tolerate!  Adobe Flash would download about half of it and then flake out and tell me to try later.  Things were often thrown!  
I finally threw up the hands and went to another ISP on landline broadband and can now actually watch Youtube stuff at other times than 2 in the morning!  The old one worked off the mobile phone network so that schoolkids at 3.30pm thing ground it to a juddering halt every weekday!   It downloaded videos at about your speed SB,  so sympathy... lots of it.   No other options??


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## GDAD (Sep 11, 2013)

Adobe Reader allows users to read pdf files since they are easier to transfer and download via email.
There are many other uses, all depend on what software has been installed on your computer.
Try google adobe & see if there is any links to what you wish to know...
Also sugest you change from dial up to broadband.........cheers


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## SeaBreeze (Sep 11, 2013)

Thanks for the advice, I'll look into Adobe Flash Player.  My monthly bill for the dial-up with Norton Anti Virus is only $12 per month, I don't want to have higher monthly bills with broadband if I can avoid it, the videos are not too important to me. I can go to the library and use their computer if there's something I really want to see...but would be nice to do it in the comfort of my own home.


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## That Guy (Sep 12, 2013)




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## SifuPhil (Sep 13, 2013)

Sea, I totally blew over the fact that you have dial-up. 

My condolences. 

That's probably the #1 cause of your slow videos. I know the price is attractive - heck, you're paying one-third of my basic 5mbps cable service - so if the videos really aren't that important to you and you don't do a lot of bidding on eBay (where "sniping" or the entering of last-second bids requires a fast connection) or any other application that requires a fast connection then I'd say hold onto it as long as you can. 

I just wonder if the day is coming when they'll declare dial-up as obsolete and FORCE us to purchase cable / DSL services.


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## That Guy (Sep 13, 2013)

SifuPhil said:


> I just wonder if the day is coming when they'll declare dial-up as obsolete and FORCE us to purchase cable / DSL services.



Oh, yeah.  You can count on it.  Time marches on . . .


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