I have been having a problem every so often with the adobe auto updater. I think it starts when an adobe program is opened. All of a sudden my computer will slow down to a crawl and when I go into the task manager all my cpu resources are used up and the auto updater is listed either 2 or 3 times and sucking all my power. End process won't work and the only way to get it to stop is to restart the computer. What gives and how do I get rid of it?

Go to adobe and download all the updates... the problem will then go away... Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, Adope Album... There is a list at adobe... then there are huge updates if you have VISTA

OR, ask yourself WHY you use it and if you don't know then run HijackThis and checkmark the updater and get it gone.

You can always add it again if you need it OR run the updater manually.

Use MSCONFIG and disable all the adobe background programs in the startup menu. Also, you might want to upgrade to Adobe Reader 8.1 (unless you have some of the other Adobe paid programs, I don't know. Everyone has Adobe Reader because it's free.)

I hate these types of background programs. The last few years, a lot of companies that make applications throw in a background program to monitor for software updates and that's all. To me that's needless and only adds one more item that can go wrong and cause grief! Whenever I work on a customer's comp, I always go into MSCONFIG and disable all these needless background programs. The best (or I should say WORST) example is QuickTime. OEMs all include QuickTime with their comps and it has a background process that's enabled by default. All it does is check for updates for QuickTime. Well, I don't know many people who regularly use QuickTime to begin with and why not check for updates whenever the person launches the main program? I know the execs at Apple want to give their product more exposure but it's so NEEDLESS!!

This does NOT mean you disable other background programs that do have a useful purpose. For instance, certain devices like printers want to keep you notified immediately if there's a problem (i.e. low toner/ink) or anti-malware utilities (i.e. anti-virus resident shields), ... So long as the purpose has some real use, then keep it!!

Here's how you disable useless background programs: Start -> Run -> msconfig <Enter> -> Startup -> Remove checkmarks for uselss programs (Adobe, QuickTime, MusicMatch, ... )

All of those Adobe programs are better than being without them. The recent rash of updates were due to infestations discovered last week. Most users can no longer do without Adobe Elements, Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave, Adobe Reader... Abuse by Adobe is rarely mentioned. There there are for many users Photoshop, Pagemaker, Acrobat, Premier, Convert, Cold Fusion InDesuign, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver.
Adobe is the second largest computer software company in the world, exceeded only by Microsoft. I consider them to be the most responsible.
Most people need Adobe updates. The Adobe updates are less offensive and less intrusive than most, and are quite necessary if you believe in security. I like that they allow you to update them in segments when you are not busy with other tasks.

The problem is the update comes on and uses 100% cpu and doesn't update anything. It just sits there and uses all resources.

Then something is wrong elsewhere, as Adobe is very good at installing the updates when the computer is idle, then withdrawing when in use.
In those cases, I would uninstall and reinstall.

what version you got
CS2, CS3 use update manager exe and a DLL file
look for the EXE in the install folders
look in common folder /files adobe updater delete it
may need to get a new updater from them or go direct dwnld the updates that should fix
in process's you should see this running when it is trying to update