Suppress Adobe Product Improvement Program Pop-Up by Using Microsoft Group Policy Preference or AppSense Environment Manager

I implemented this a few years back, when I needed to eliminate any unneeded pop-up to my users. In this case, it was for Adobe Reader. Newly created profiles will have this automatically pop-up when they launched Adobe Reader  for the first time.

Adobe Product Improvement Program - Help Improve the Adobe Reader Experience.

The screen also can be triggered by going to Help | Improvement Program Options...

These steps will help to disable the Improvement Program Options menu, and consequently suppress the pop-up. Note that it requires registry editing, so be extremely careful. Note that the steps mentioned are for Adobe Reader 11. If oy used different version, ensure your key path refers to correct version (SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\11.0)

Using GPP : 

1.  Launch GPMC, and go to target GPO.  Edit the policy, and navigate to Computer Configuration | Preference | Windows Settings | Registry, right click at Registry, hover to New and click at Registry Item
   
   
   
   
   
2.  Ensure Hive is changed to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   
   
   
3. Use below info to fill up the form :
   Key Path : SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\11.0\FeatureLockDown
   Value Name : bUsageMeasurement
   Value Type : REG_DWORD
   Value Data : 0
   Base : Decimal
   
   
   
   
4.  Reboot the target machine. Once it is up, log in to computer, and launch Adobe Reader. No Improvement Program pop-up appeared, and Improvement Program Options... is no longer listed  in Help menu.
   
    

Using AppSense Environment Manager : 

1. Launch AppSense Environment Manager, right click at Process Started | choose Node
   
   
   
   
2.  Change the information for Condition and Match accordingly, then click OK
   Condition : Equal to
   Match : AcroRd32.exe
   
   
   
   
3. At workspace on the right side, right click at the Process condition, and navigate to Conditions | Registry | and choose Registry Value Exists. This step is to check whether the needed value is existed or not.
   
   
   
4. Fill up all needed info by following below information :
   Hive : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   Key : SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\11.0\FeatureLockDown
   Value Name : bUsageMeasurement
   Value Type : REG_DWORD
   Comparison : Not Equal To
   Value Data : 0
   Base : Decimal
   
   
   
   
5. You may also want to give a bit of description and notes to the setting. Select OK.
   
   
   
   
6.  This is the outcomes, so far.
   
   
   
   
7.  Right click at the first condition, navigate to Action | Registry | select Create Key
   
   
   
8.  Create the needed key by filling up the form with below info
   Main Key : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   Sub Key  : SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\11.0\FeatureLockDown
   
   
   
   
9.  Go to Run As tab, ensure the action to run as SYSTEM.
   
   
   
10.  Go to General tab, provide Description and Notes (optional), and select OK.
    
    
    
11.   Outcomes, so far.
    
    
    
    
12.  Next, we need to set the value. Right click at the newly created Condition, navigate to Actions | Registry | Set Value.
    
    
13.  In Set Registry Key tab, fill up the form by following below info.
    Main Key : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
    Sub Key : SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\11.0\FeatureLockDown
    Value Name : bUsageMeasurement
    Value Type : REG_DWORD
    Value : 0 (Decimal)
    
    
    
14.  Go to Run As tab, change it to System.
    
    
    
15.  Go to General tab, provide Description and Notes (if you want to), and press OK to complete this step
    
    
    
16.  Outcomes, so far.
    
    
    
17.   Now, by using the same logic, create another set of condition to check if the key is already existed, followed by to check whether the value is NOT set to 0. If both conditions are true, set the value to 0.
    
    
    
18.  If you want to delete the setting once Adobe Reader closed, delete registry action can be used.
    

Fact #01 : Why do I choose Process Started as my trigger? It is because, this will :

• Reduce logon time by that policy outside logon policy
• Ensure the setting will be applied everytime users launch Adobe Reader, and if needed, remove the configuration once Adobe Reader closed (utilizing Process Stopped trigger).

Fact #02 : Do I need to create the registry key prior to set the value? No, not really. If we skip the step to create the key and directly set the value, the result will be the same. However, to me it helps to prevent any unneeded circumstances.

Fact #03 : Why do I choose the actions to run as SYSTEM rather than Curent User? If we have a very restricted environment where registry editing is not allowed to normal users, choosing Current User will result the configuration to fail (due to no permission to run the action).

Fact #04 : Why do I highlight the configurations with green and yellow. The answer is NO, I did not highlight those settings. Green represents Condition, whereas Yellow represents Action with run as SYSTEM.