My Photoshop is Haunted!

Or maybe I'm being haunted by Photoshop. In the last few days, it's started opening up all by itself at random intervals.

Anyone had this happen? The only thing I can think of is a spurious signal from my wireless keyboard, which has a quick start button for the program.

When it opens does it open a specific image file also? If so you may somehow be selecting an image file (probably on your desktop) and giving it a double click. If it opens without also opening a document than your theory is probably right. You can try disabling the quickstart button and see if it stops happening. If it does then you'll know for sure.

Thanks, Chip. It opens to a blank workspace, no image. And I *DID* disable the quickstart.

Drat.

Hehe. This reminds me of my aged powermac that I wasn't using much as I had to buy a PC for my job. The powermac would power itself up at random times. I would wake up at 3am to the power up chime and monitor light. Wha? Huh?

The computers were created by Man.
They Evolved.
They Rebelled.
There are many copies.
And they have a Plan.

O.o

Sigh. The turn this is taking indicates to me that nobody else has a clue either. And nobody's said anything on the Adobe PS forum, either.

I suppose I'll have to uninstall all 2GB, all dozen applications, and spend a couple of hours reinstalling, digging out my authorization code, etc. etc.

Sorry I couldn't be more help. I've never had a similar problem, and other than your sticky keyboard button theory, I just don't have a better one. Do you use Adobe Bridge by chance? If so, you might try setting it so it doesn't start when your computer starts up. That piece of bloatware is downright evil.

Truer words were never spoke. I HATE Bridge!

Adobe deliberately cripples the ability of Windows Explorer (My Computer, My Pictures, etc.) to display thumbnails for PSD's and AI's, to try to force you to use Bridge. Here's a package of files to fix Windows so it will show the thumbnails. A couple of notes:

1. The TGA thumbplug is a self installing EXE. After you unizip, it simply double click to install.

2. The PSD and AI thumbplugs are not self installing. Follow the Readme instructions for each.

3. If you reinstall Photoshop or Illustrator for any reason, you'll need also to reinstall the PSD and AI thumbplugs afterwards, or the functionality will once again be removed from Windows Explorer. The TGA thumbplug won't be affected by reinstalls.



As for your problem, Lindal, that's a weird one. It opens all by itself? Really? Sorry, I don't have a good theory for you.

I've had a similar problem on two occassions in the past. Both were keyboard problems. Sticky key on one and channel interferrance on a wireless keyboard/mouse set up. I wouldn't uninstall any thing before I investigated those two possibilities first.

As a side..........I quit buying the "bargain" keyboards/mice packages you see at Best Buy. Even the top of the line wireless ones are not that expensive.

Do you have a firewall on your system? Could it be starting up because of an Adobe auto-update maybe? With a firewall you could see the connection attempt if this is what it's trying to do.

Good call! I hadn't thought of that one. That's definitely a possibility.

The only thing is that the Adobe auto update is a separate program that's supposed to start only after an Adobe application starts. But they've been installing several versions of it and also they've been adding a crapware type of licensing authorization service that runs in the background, so maybe one of those programs is misbehaving.

Right now I'm running an install of CS2 without any of the patches or updates applied. The first time I tried to update a CS2 install I had two hard drives bite the dust (on different computers on consecutive days). Probably just a coincidence but now I'm completely paranoid about their updater. I love most of the apps in Creative Suite, but I absolutely hate all the crap that gets installed with them now. I'd be much happier if none of the apps knew the other Adobe apps or the internet existed.

I think CS3 is much worse in terms of crap it loads in the background but I'm not sure.

It must be an autocratic ego thing with software developers. When they get a substantial market share with their product they all tend to be fascistic and force as much crap as they can on a user's system. But I'm getting a bit OT here...

Closure:

I uninstalled CS2, including Bridge and all the extra programs, and reinstalled an older version of PS, the CS1 with only PS and Image Ready.

I also did a massive cleanup of my computer, in response to a symptom that led me to suspect the QuickTime exploit might be present.

Not only did the odd PS behavior stop, but my computer's a lot faster now, and my screensaver, which had refused to auto-trigger for months, has become operational again.

Now if only SL would run more stably...

If you did indeed have an exploit going on (QT or otherwise), that could certainly explain programs randomly opening and closing.

In any case, I suspect the increased speed you're now experiencing has to do with the general maintenance you did, not with replacing CS2 with CS1. There were so many super important, extremely useful, features added with CS2 (multiple layer selection, image warping, smart objects, vanishing point, HDR, noise reduction, better blur filters, spot healing brush, just to name a few), it seems almost a crime to downgrade to just because your one machine was experiencing a problem no one's ever heard of before that very likely had nothing to do with Photoshop itself.

If you're worried about system resources being used up by programs trying to talk to each other, then just don't install Bridge. If it installs itself along with the other programs, just uninstall it right afterwards. Or, if Photoshop is really all you ever use from the suite anyway, just install that alone, same as you did for your CS1 install (and whenever you get around to updating to CS3, you now know you only need to update PS, not the whole suite, since the other programs don't interest you).

now if only it would open itself, paint a nice texture, alpha it, etc and have it ready for upload...that'd be spiffy!

I think all the techno mumbo jumble could be the answer but I am placing bets on some sort of demonic possession manifesting itself through the Tab key. And if you ever tasted Tab, I am sure you would agree with me.

Thanks for the soda on my monitor. And no, it's not tab.