How can I disable auto updates from Tracker Updater permanently as they cause daily admin prompts?

[JScott17]

We have users that receive an admin prompt daily for the PDF-XChange Updater (TrackerUpdate.exe) running out of the ProgramData directory.

I am looking for a method to disable this permanently.

I noticed on one of my machines that experiences this, there is nothing in Startup Apps to trigger this update. I also verified within TrackerUpdate.exe, the option for Autostart is set to Never and the registry value for i.AutoCheckFreq is set to 4 located at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFXEditor\3.0\Settings\Update

I also checked Task Scheduler and Services.msc which show no tasks or services running the updater.

I also attempted to delete the exe but cannot as it is being used in the background. While I can likely manually end the task in task manager under background processes then delete, I need to be able to automate the deletion of the exe for thousands of users. Assuming that's the best option for stopping the updater from running.

These admin prompts do not occur on all machines. I didn't begin to see them on my own machine until I manually ran TrackerUpdate.exe. Now I cannot get them to stop.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi, JScott17

take a look in C:\ProgramData\Tracker Software to see if there is an Update folder with an installer in it. delete it if so. In fact you can delete the entire C:\ProgramData\Tracker Software folder and it will be recreated with the data yo need, so I am interested n hearing if removng tha from the affliceted machines helps.

[JScott17]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your quick response! While I do have the TrackerUpdate.exe under ProgramData, it has a background process associated with it that runs within 5 minutes of the user logging on. This then throws an admin prompt and the process does not stop running in the background.

While I could remediate my own machine by stopping the process and deleting the folder, I wouldn't be able to do this remotely or in bulk as the conflicting process running will prevent me from deleting the exe. I've tested this by running elevated PowerShell scripts to attempt to delete the TrackerUpdate.exe.

I'd like to know how this "PDF-XChange Updater (32-bit)" background process is being started so I could permanently disable it across hundreds of affected machines.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi, JScott17

I am not sure - other than the Task Scheduler, that the Updater gets triggered as such. If the goal is to prevent updates, scripting the removal of the TrackerUpdate.exe from C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\Update should prevent the updater running.

You shouldn't be seeing a conflicting process, what do you see that suggest that may I ask?