For myself, I'm down to the point that I do not have the getPLUS(R) installer software installed on my machine. I did at one time but, uninstalled it along with all of the other Adobe software in an attempt to get things to load; if I remember, I was getting errors along the lines that items were already installed/downloaded on my computer. Ultimately, I did do a system restore which did bring up an Adobe Reader v8.xx back to my machine. (Vista has something that one of the Tech Helps in a more recent PC Magazine calls a "Virtual Store". It is not something that one can bring up as a MS Help and Support item by name. So, the "Virtual store" must be an author's or industry coined term for the system by which files are "deleted" in Vista. I have gotten a bit of a hint about it through multiple MS Help and Support topics.....From what I can tell, it refers to the mechanisms that Vista uses to uninstall (O/S installation) software, how it deletes files from the registry as well at the file's begin block, and then how the registry can repair itself during a restore; I would suspect that these mechanisms and conventions are also used by the various registry repair programs as well.)
I did have to manually re-install many of the Adobe extras such as Media Player, AIR1.1, and Shockwave. The installation routine pretty much took me and guided me to where I needed to go. For these routines, I was able to SAVE the files to my desk top and install by double clicking the icon on my desktop. On one of them, I forget which and by that time my notes weren't as detailed as they should be, the installer said that the files already existed. But, I was able to follow what was on the screen well enough to locate a folder with that same s/w's title which I did drag to the RecycleBin. From there, I was able to double click on the installation icon located on my desktop for a smooth installation.
At this point, I can click the Adobe provided link for a manual installation using RUN. But, the installation hangs when installing Adobe ADL because there is not a getPLUS(R) installer installed on the machine. I did find the site for getPLUS(R) but, wasn't able to readily find a free download for this installer.