This guide is for small-business employees whose Adobe Acrobat is crashing on launch, failing to open PDFs, running slowly, or showing missing features. In most cases, these problems are caused by running an outdated version of Acrobat. Updating the application to the latest version resolves these issues and keeps your software secure.

Symptoms of an Outdated Adobe Acrobat

You may need to update Acrobat if you are experiencing any of the following:

• Acrobat crashes when you launch it or while opening a PDF.
• Certain features or tools are missing or not working as expected.
• The application loads slowly or freezes during use.

How to Update Adobe Acrobat

1. Open Adobe Acrobat on your computer.
2. In the menu bar, click Help, then select Check for Updates.
3. If updates are available, follow the on-screen prompts to download and install the latest version.
4. Once the update is complete, restart Adobe Acrobat.
5. Open a PDF to confirm the issue has been resolved.

Note: You may need administrator privileges on your computer to install the update. If you receive a permission error, contact your IT administrator or reach out to Advanced Computer Solutions for assistance.

How to Prevent This Issue in the Future

• Enable automatic updates in your Acrobat settings so the application stays current without manual checks.
• Periodically use Help > Check for Updates to confirm you are running the latest version.

Common questions

Why does Adobe Acrobat keep crashing when I open a PDF?

Crashing when opening PDFs is a common symptom of running an outdated version of Adobe Acrobat. Navigating to Help > Check for Updates and installing any available updates typically resolves the problem.

Do I need administrator rights to update Adobe Acrobat?

Administrator privileges may be required to install updates on your computer. If you are unable to complete the update due to a permissions issue, contact your IT administrator or reach out to Advanced Computer Solutions at https://acsapp.com/contact-us/.

How can I stop Adobe Acrobat from becoming outdated again?

Enable automatic updates in Acrobat’s settings so the application updates itself in the background. You can also periodically check for updates manually by going to Help > Check for Updates.

Set an Auto-Reply in Outlook on the Web (OWA)

1. Go to https://outlook.office.com and sign in with your Microsoft 365 account.
2. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner, then choose View all Outlook settings.
3. Navigate to Mail > Automatic replies.
4. Toggle on Turn on automatic replies.
5. (Optional) Set a Start time and End time to have the reply turn off automatically.
6. Enter your message for internal senders under Inside my organization.
7. (Optional) Check Send replies outside your organization and add a separate message for external senders.
8. Click Save.

Set an Auto-Reply in the Outlook Desktop App (Windows)

1. Open Outlook on your Windows computer.
2. Click File > Automatic Replies (Out of Office).
3. Select Send automatic replies.
4. (Optional) Set a time range for the replies to be active.
5. Enter your auto-reply message for both internal and external senders in the provided fields.
6. Click OK to enable the auto-reply.

Best Practices

• Include your return date and an alternate contact so senders know who to reach.
• Keep your message brief and professional.
• Avoid enabling replies to all external contacts unless it is necessary for your situation.

Need help configuring Outlook or other Microsoft 365 settings for your business? Contact ACS and our team will be happy to assist.

Common questions

Can I schedule my out of office reply to turn on and off automatically?

Yes. Both Outlook on the web and the Outlook desktop app allow you to set an optional start time and end time. Once the end time passes, the automatic reply will turn off on its own.

Should I send auto-replies to external senders as well as internal ones?

That depends on your role and business needs. Microsoft 365 lets you write a separate message for senders outside your organization. As a best practice, only enable external replies when necessary, since it can expose information to unknown senders.

What should I include in my out of office message?

Best practice is to include your expected return date and an alternate contact, such as a colleague or general company email, so senders know how to get help while you are away. Keep the message brief and professional.

This article is for small-business employees who see an alert or log entry referencing Event ID 43 on a Windows computer. This event is purely informational—it simply means Windows has started installing an update, such as a system patch, driver, Microsoft Store app, or Defender definition update. No action is required in most cases, and the event does not indicate an error or failure.

What Is Event ID 43?

Event ID 43 is recorded in the System log by the source Microsoft-Windows-WindowsUpdateClient whenever Windows begins an update installation. The log entry reads: Windows has started installing the following update: [App/Update Name]. It is classified as an informational event, not a warning or error.

Common scenarios that trigger this event include:

• A scheduled or user-initiated Windows update beginning to install.
• Microsoft Store apps or Defender definition updates starting in the background.
• A third-party app updating through the Microsoft Store or your organization’s update service.

When No Action Is Needed

If you see Event ID 43 and nothing seems wrong with your computer, you do not need to do anything. The update is simply in progress. This is normal, expected behavior.

When to Pay Closer Attention

You should take note—or contact your IT support team—if any of the following are true:

• The same update appears to be starting repeatedly without ever finishing successfully.
• Follow-up error events appear in the logs, particularly Event ID 45 or Event ID 20, which indicate an update failure.
• The update involves an app or software that is not approved for use at your organization.
• Your computer becomes slow, unstable, or behaves unusually after an update attempt.
• The device appears to be stuck in a loop of failed updates.
• An update appears to be blocked or restricted by a company policy.

Steps to Take If Issues Are Present

1. Note exactly which update is named in the Event ID 43 log entry.
2. Check whether a follow-up error—especially Event ID 45 or Event ID 20—appears in the same System log after the Event ID 43 entry.
3. Record whether the same update name appears in multiple Event ID 43 entries without a corresponding successful completion.
4. Note any unusual behavior on the device, such as slowness, crashes, or application errors that began around the time of the update.
5. Contact your IT support team and share the event details, including the update name, the event IDs observed, and a description of any problems. You can reach Advanced Computer Solutions at https://acsapp.com/contact-us/.

Summary

Event ID 43 is a routine, informational log entry that Windows creates every time an update installation begins. On its own, it requires no action. Only investigate further if the update fails to complete, causes system problems, or conflicts with your organization’s software policies.

Common questions

Is Event ID 43 a sign that something went wrong with Windows Update?

No. Event ID 43 is an informational event that simply means Windows has started installing an update. It does not indicate an error or failure. If an installation does fail, a separate event—such as Event ID 45 or Event ID 20—will appear in the System log.

What should I do if I keep seeing Event ID 43 for the same update over and over?

Repeated Event ID 43 entries for the same update, with no successful completion in between, can indicate that the update is stuck in a loop. Check the System log for follow-up error events such as Event ID 45 or Event ID 20, and contact your IT support team if the problem continues.

Can Event ID 43 appear for apps other than Windows system updates?

Yes. This event is triggered whenever Windows begins installing any update through its update client, including Microsoft Store apps, Defender definition updates, driver updates, and third-party apps that update through the Microsoft Store or your organization’s update service.

Why Windows Labels the Drive as a Fixed Disk

Windows uses a setting called the Removable Media Bit (RMB) to classify storage devices:

• RMB set to 1 (Removable): Common on smaller USB flash drives (thumb drives). Windows treats these as removable media.
• RMB set to 0 (Fixed): Common on larger external hard drives and portable drives. The manufacturer sets this value in the drive firmware.

Manufacturers configure larger drives this way intentionally. Setting the drive as a fixed disk allows Windows to support multiple partitions, use NTFS indexing more effectively, and enable write-caching features that would not be available if the drive were treated as temporary removable media.

How to Verify the Drive Is Truly External

1. Do not rely solely on the classification label shown in your monitoring or asset management tool. The label reflects the RMB firmware value, not the physical connection type.
2. Open Windows Device Manager and use the Volumes mapping view to cross-reference the flagged drive with its physical hardware entry.
3. Check the hardware name displayed in Device Manager. If the name matches an external product line or the drive maps to a USB controller hub, it is an external peripheral and can be managed as one—even though the operating system reports it as a Fixed Disk.

When to Contact Your IT Provider

If you are unable to identify the drive in Device Manager, the hardware name does not match any known external device, or you have concerns about an unexpected disk appearing on a system, contact your IT provider for assistance. ACS clients can reach our team at acsapp.com/contact-us.

Common questions

Is it a problem if my external USB hard drive shows up as a Local Fixed Disk?

Not usually. This classification is set in the drive’s firmware by the manufacturer and is common on larger external hard drives and SSDs. Windows uses it to enable features like multi-partitioning and NTFS indexing. As long as the drive can be identified as an external device in Windows Device Manager, there is no issue.

Why do thumb drives show as Removable but my external hard drive does not?

The difference comes down to the Removable Media Bit (RMB) stored in each device’s firmware. Smaller USB flash drives typically have this bit set to 1, which Windows reads as Removable. Larger external hard drives often have it set to 0, which Windows reads as Fixed. Both settings are intentional choices made by the device manufacturer.

How do I confirm which physical drive is being flagged by my monitoring tool?

Open Windows Device Manager and use the Volumes mapping view to match the flagged drive to its hardware entry. If the hardware name corresponds to an external product line or connects through a USB controller hub, the drive is external and can be safely managed as such despite the Fixed Disk label.

Schedule a Delayed Email in Outlook Desktop (Windows)

1. Open Outlook and click New Email. Fill in the recipient, subject, and message body.
2. In the message window, click the Options tab.
3. In the More Options section, click Delay Delivery.
4. In the Properties window, under Delivery options, check the box next to Do not deliver before.
5. Choose the date and time you want the email to be sent.
6. Click Close, then click Send.

Note: The email will remain in your Outbox until the scheduled time. Your Outlook desktop app must stay open and connected to the internet for the message to send at the specified time.

Schedule a Delayed Email in Outlook on the Web

1. Go to https://outlook.office.com and sign in.
2. Click New Message and write your email.
3. Click the dropdown arrow next to the Send button.
4. Choose Send later.
5. Pick the date and time for delivery.
6. Click Send.

Note: Scheduled emails appear in your Drafts folder until they are sent. Because Outlook on the Web sends from Microsoft’s cloud, the message will go out at the scheduled time even if your browser is closed.

Common Use Cases

• Sending meeting reminders in advance
• Coordinating messages across different time zones
• Avoiding sending emails outside of normal business hours

If you run into trouble scheduling emails or need help with your Microsoft 365 setup, contact ACS and our team will be happy to assist.

Common questions

What happens if I close Outlook desktop before my scheduled email sends?

If Outlook desktop is closed or disconnected from the internet when the scheduled send time arrives, the email will not go out. It will remain in your Outbox and send the next time Outlook is open and connected. To avoid this, consider using Outlook on the Web, which sends from Microsoft’s cloud regardless of whether your browser is open.

Where can I find a scheduled email after I click Send in Outlook on the Web?

After you schedule an email in Outlook on the Web, it moves to your Drafts folder and stays there until the scheduled date and time arrives, at which point Microsoft’s servers send it automatically.

Can I cancel or reschedule an email after I have already scheduled it?

Yes. For Outlook desktop, open your Outbox, double-click the message, go back to Options and then Delay Delivery, and adjust or remove the scheduled date and time. For Outlook on the Web, open the Drafts folder, find the scheduled message, and edit or delete it before the send time arrives.

Outlook Desktop App (Windows)

Step 1: Open the Rules Settings

1. Open Outlook and go to the Home tab.
2. Click Rules, then select Manage Rules & Alerts.

Step 2: Create a New Rule

1. Click New Rule.
2. Choose a template—for example, Move messages from someone to a folder—or select Apply rule on messages I receive under Start from a blank rule.
3. Click Next.

Step 3: Define Your Conditions

1. Select one or more conditions, such as from a specific sender or with specific words in the subject.
2. Click Next.

Step 4: Choose the Action

1. Select move it to the specified folder.
2. Click the folder link in the bottom pane and choose the destination folder.

Step 5: Finish and Save the Rule

1. Give the rule a descriptive name—for example, Move Invoices to Finance Folder.
2. Review the rule summary, then click Finish and OK.

Outlook on the Web (OWA)

Step 1: Open Mail Rules

1. Go to https://outlook.office.com and sign in.
2. Click the Settings gear icon, then select View all Outlook settings.
3. Navigate to Mail > Rules.

Step 2: Add a New Rule

1. Click + Add new rule.
2. Enter a name for the rule—for example, Team Emails.
3. Set your condition—for example, From and enter the sender’s email address.
4. Set the action—for example, Move to folder and select the destination folder.
5. Click Save.

Ideas for Useful Rules

Not sure where to start? Here are a few common rules that help small-business employees stay organized:

• Move newsletters or reports to a Read Later folder.
• Automatically sort billing emails into a Finance folder.
• Route internal team messages to a Team folder.

If you run into trouble setting up rules or need help configuring Outlook for your business, contact the ACS support team.

Common questions

Can I create a rule based on words in the subject line?

Yes. In the Outlook desktop app, when defining conditions during rule setup, you can choose to filter messages that contain specific words in the subject. This lets you route things like invoices, reports, or alerts to dedicated folders automatically.

Do Outlook rules work in both the desktop app and Outlook on the Web?

Yes. Microsoft Outlook for Microsoft 365 (desktop app) and Outlook on the Web (OWA) both support inbox rules. The steps differ slightly between the two, but both allow you to set conditions and actions to automatically move incoming emails to folders.

Will a rule I create in Outlook on the Web also apply in the desktop app?

Rules created in Outlook on the Web are stored on the server side and will apply to incoming mail regardless of which Outlook client you use, as long as the rule is active and your account processes mail through the server.

What Is Focused Inbox?

Focused Inbox splits your inbox into two tabs: Focused and Other. Outlook automatically places important emails in the Focused tab and moves lower-priority items—such as newsletters, promotions, and automated messages—into the Other tab. Over time, Outlook learns from your behavior and improves how it sorts your mail.

Enable or Disable Focused Inbox on Windows

1. Open Outlook.
2. Click the View tab in the ribbon.
3. In the Message section, click Show Focused Inbox to toggle the feature on or off.

Enable or Disable Focused Inbox on Mac

1. Go to the Organize tab in the ribbon.
2. Click Focused Inbox to turn it on or off.

Enable or Disable Focused Inbox on the Web

1. Go to https://outlook.office.com and sign in.
2. Click the Settings (gear) icon in the upper right corner.
3. Scroll down and toggle Focused Inbox on or off.
4. Changes are saved automatically—no additional action is needed.

Enable or Disable Focused Inbox on Mobile (iOS & Android)

1. Open the Outlook app on your device.
2. Tap your profile icon in the top left, then tap the Settings (gear) icon.
3. Select the email account you want to adjust.
4. Toggle Focused Inbox on or off.

Move Emails Between the Focused and Other Tabs

Outlook’s sorting improves when you correct its mistakes. Here’s how to move messages manually:

1. To move an important email from Other to Focused, right-click the message and choose Move to Focused.
2. Select Always Move to train Outlook so future messages from that sender land in the right tab automatically.
3. To move a less important email out of Focused, right-click it and choose Move to Other, then select Always Move to apply the preference going forward.

Important Things to Know

Focused Inbox settings apply per user, per device. If you turn it on in the Outlook desktop app, that change does not automatically apply to the mobile app or the web version—you will need to update each separately. If Focused Inbox is not available to you at all, your organization’s administrator may have disabled it at the account level.

If you need help configuring Outlook for your business or are experiencing issues with your Microsoft 365 environment, contact the ACS support team.

Common questions

Will changing Focused Inbox settings on my desktop also change them on my phone?

No. Focused Inbox settings apply per user, per device. You need to enable or disable the feature separately in Outlook on Windows or Mac, the web, and the mobile app.

How do I teach Outlook to sort a specific sender correctly every time?

Right-click the email, choose Move to Focused or Move to Other, and then select Always Move. This trains Outlook so future messages from that sender are automatically placed in the correct tab.

What types of email typically end up in the Other tab?

Outlook routes lower-priority items such as newsletters, promotional emails, and automated messages to the Other tab, keeping your Focused tab reserved for conversations that matter most.

There is a phishing campaign going around right now that targets Google Calendar. And the reason it caught my attention is that it actually gets past multi-factor authentication. That is a big deal.

How This Thing Works

You get a calendar invite. It looks normal enough. But somewhere in that flow, it asks you to authenticate. You plug in your password. You plug in your MFA code. And at that point, it steals the session tokens sitting on your computer. Once it has those, it does not need your password anymore. It just becomes you on your Google account.

My first reaction when I read this was: why would anybody type their password into a calendar invite? No other calendar invite has ever asked you to do that. Not one. So if a request comes in and suddenly it wants you to log in, that is your signal to stop and close the window.

What We Found When We Checked Our Own Coverage

After I read this, I went straight to our SaaS security tool and asked whether we had this covered. It came back with a detailed report. The short version: we had six of the eight attack vectors in this campaign covered. Not bad, but not complete. So it also gave us three additional things we can do to close the gap, and we are working through what those mean and how they affect our setup.

If you have SaaS security in place, there is a good chance it stops most of this. If you do not have anything protecting your cloud apps, then yes, this can happen to you, and you would not necessarily know until it was too late.

What You Should Do

• Train your staff: no Google Calendar invite should ever ask for a password or an MFA code. If one does, do not touch it.
• If you are on Google Workspace and you do not have SaaS security on top of it, that is the gap to fix first. Your cloud apps are the keys to the kingdom for a lot of businesses.
• If you are not sure what you have or whether it covers this, give me a call and we will take a look.

And honestly, if you are running your whole business on Google and you have no additional security layer around it, that is the bigger conversation we should be having.

Questions about how this affects your setup? Schedule a free IT consultation and we’ll walk through it with you.

Wherever your team is based, ACS provides hands-on managed IT support — see how we help businesses in Traverse City & Northern Michigan.

I’ll be straight with you: I’m not a Pfizer fan. I don’t take their drugs, and I’m not sure I ever have. But I do like investment in US manufacturing, and $650 million going into a manufacturing technology center here in the States is hard to ignore.

Why This Caught My Eye

When a company that size puts that kind of money into manufacturing technology on US soil, it tells you something about where things are headed. Big players don’t make moves like that without a reason. And when you pair it with everything else happening in manufacturing right now, including the uptick in manufacturing technology orders we’re seeing across the industry, it starts to paint a picture.

More US manufacturing activity is a good thing. Full stop. I don’t care where you sit politically or what you think of the company writing the check.

What Smaller Manufacturers Should Take From This

When a facility that size gets built out, it doesn’t operate in a vacuum. There are suppliers, contractors, and service businesses that end up supporting it. That kind of downstream activity matters if you’re a smaller manufacturer or a service business that works anywhere near that supply chain.

It’s also just a signal. If Pfizer is betting $650 million on US manufacturing tech, and we’re already seeing expansion in manufacturing technology investment across the board, that’s not a blip. That’s a trend worth positioning yourself for.

Questions about how this affects your setup? Schedule a free IT consultation and we’ll walk through it with you.

Wherever your team is based, ACS provides hands-on managed IT support — see how we help businesses in Central Florida.

I came across a piece from IT Wire about where manufacturing IT stands right now with automation and AI adoption. The numbers in the article are all over the place, but one number jumped out at me and I could not let it go.

On average, a manufacturer does 3.08 prompts a day to an AI tool. Across all industries, that average is 3.28. In tech, it is 4.72. So manufacturers are running almost a full prompt a day behind everybody else.

Why That Number Bothers Me

A prompt is just a question to an AI. And if you are treating it like a search engine where you type in a question and read the answer, you are not really using the tool. That is not the point.

The way I use AI, I am probably sending hundreds of prompts a day. Not because I am asking the same question over and over, but because I am constantly building things. Automations. Reports. Capabilities I do not want to handle manually. I am giving it commands and making it do work, not just asking it to summarize something.

So when I see 3.08 prompts a day, what I read is: most manufacturers do not know how to use this yet. Take that for what you will.

The ROI Problem Is Real, But It Is a Usage Problem First

The article also makes the point that manufacturers are ahead on proactive automation compared to other sectors, which is good news. But they still cannot clearly prove what AI is returning for them.

I think those two things are connected. If you are only doing three prompts a day, you are not giving the tool enough work to show you anything meaningful. You are not going to see ROI from occasional use. You see it when the tool is doing real, repeatable work for you every single day.

If you are a manufacturer and you have already started experimenting with AI tools, the question worth asking is not just whether you have the tool. It is whether your team is actually using it to do things, or just poking at it once in a while.

What I Would Do If This Were My Shop

• Stop counting prompts and start counting tasks. What is the AI actually completing for you each week?
• Pick one thing you or your team does manually and repeatedly, and make that the AI’s job. Not a one-time question, a standing task.
• Once it is doing that task, measure the time saved. That is your ROI data. It does not have to be complicated.
• Then build from there. One task becomes two. Two becomes ten. That is when the numbers start to look interesting.

If you want to talk through where AI could actually fit in your operation, give me a call.

Questions about how this affects your setup? Schedule a free IT consultation and we’ll walk through it with you.

Wherever your team is based, ACS provides hands-on managed IT support — see how we help businesses in Chicagoland.