Customer Reviews

Adobe Photoshop Extended CS4 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Don't expect an easy go of it if you already own Photoshop CS4 Extended and then do a clean install of Windows 7.

I purchased Photoshop CS4 Extended ["CS4"] as soon as it was released during Fall 2008. So there can be no misunderstanding of my complaints, my copy of Photoshop CS4 Extended is the official product of Adobe, which I obtained on a physical DVD.

I was using an older WinXP desktop at the time. CS4 installed without difficulty although it ran a bit slow. I replaced my computer with a new one running Vista Home Premium 64 bit during July 2009. Again, CS4 installed without issues. The new GPU processing was a nice improvement.

I purchased an upgrade to Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on October 22, 2009. Again, my copy of Win7 is the official product of Microsoft, which I obtained on a physical DVD. The only upgrade path from Vista Home Premium 64 bit to Win7 Professional 64 bit is via a clean install. You cannot do an in place upgrade. I had no intention of ever returning to Vista, so I recovered the hidden Vista recovery partition in the process.

I wasn't able to reinstall CS4 after installing Win7. The attempts didn't hang, but it always ended in the message that CS4 had been installed, but with errors. The specific error was that the language packs hadn't installed. Neither Photoshop32 nor Photoshop64 would launch. The problem wasn't with Win7. The OS was fully functional in all respects. None of my other programs had any issues.

Meaningful support from Adobe was non-existent. My request for assistance yielded one email from a support person named Amit, presumably based in India. His email merely provided a link to a page on the Adobe knowledge base. The suggestions contained in the KB article did not help. Next, I did a search for all Adobe KB articles for my error message, and found that all of the suggested advice was similarly unsuccessful. I then sent Amit a reply email with a very fact based and completely non-judgmental report of the steps I had taken and my lack of success. Adobe support would not respond. I was left to puzzle this out for myself. Worse, my Google searches showed that the same installation problems have been occurring ever since Windows 7 was released to public beta during January 2009.

The problem turned out to be Adobe's digital rights management software [DRM]. Do your own search for "FlexNet," formerly known as "SafeCast." What I have read is that FlexNet is a viral rootkit that replicates in multiple locations whenever a CS3 or CS4 product is installed, including trial versions. Worse, a part of the DRM is installed to the Master Boot Record [MBR]. The MBR is vital to a PC's ability to boot and run, and it is not intended to be altered by software. In my personal opinion, unauthorized alteration of the MBR is vandalism. Because of the component installed in the MBR, FlexNet cannot be uninstalled and even survives reformatting of the hard disk. Adobe's cleaner utility will not get rid of it.

The part of FlexNet that survives in the MBR apparently interprets the clean install process as an attempt to circumvent DRM. So, reinstallation is blocked. The solution is to completely zero out ALL sectors of the primary hard disk, including the MBR, before doing the clean install of Win7. I'll eventually post a detailed explanation of the process in a comment to this review.

All of this might be acceptable for a $15 shareware program. But Photoshop CS4 Extended has a suggested retail price of nearly one thousand dollars, which is more than the cost of my new computer.

The whole point of buying this program was to have some fun editing my photographs. Adobe's lack of support and failure to resolve a known installation problem has completely sucked all of the pleasure out of this hobby for me.

The bottom line is that most people will NOT have any problems with installing Photoshop CS4 on Windows 7. Specifically, you won't have a problem: (1) if you bought your computer with Win7 preinstalled and then install CS4 products; or (2) if your first install of any CS3 or CS4 product is made after a clean install to Win7; or (3) if your upgrade path to Win7 allows for an in place upgrade instead of a clean install. However, people in my situation should be prepared for a very bumpy ride.

These entire new and enhanced features make for one confusing and complicated program, though. The problems start from the very beginning: at installation. All other programs and applications must be turned off before installation may begin. Settings must be manually set, which can be quite confusing to a lesser-experienced computer operator. The program is extensive and consumes a great deal of memory and some of the options will only work in Windows Vista.
Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended is definitely not a program for the lesser-experienced computer user. The operator must also be very experienced with digital photography, color palettes, and even web design/streaming video creation. I would definitely not recommend this program to most of my family, friend, or co-workers. But for the Professional; that's another story!

I'm a PS power user and if you need efficiency and speed in your PS work I'd say wait for the update to this. There are two major issues that I have that some users might not. First I use this primarily on the new Apple MBP and for some reason PS CS4 has this extended ability where you're constantly resizing and even rotating your canvas with the track pad gestures. Using simple motions to use the trackpad triggers this and no it cannot as of yet be disabled. Check the Adobe forums and you can read the complaints for yourself. The second issue is that PS CS4 tries to maintain one primary window. This might be great for programs like Flash and After Effects but for PS it can really cost you time. If you drag an image or file onto the PS icon in the dock to open it PS will create a nested window in whatever active PS window you have. I'm sure there's some hidden keyboard shortcut to pull the image you just opened into the active project but for now I end up dragging the nested window out then pulling the layer into the window I want. It might sound knitpicky but believe me if you're a power user it's annoying and a time waster.

My review is on the product, mainly. It is high tech, and affordable. I also spend a lot of my time editing, and i found this product to be thumbs up! YES ADOBE!

Overall CS4 is a quality product but at $1000 (extended version) is probably priced too high for the market and feature set it offers. There are many other options on the market that have caught up to the CS4 feature set that cost 1/2 as much or less.

WARNING on 64bit mode: when working with 3D Layers I found a bug where all the menu items will gray out (forcing a Task Manager End Process) if I changed from infinite light to spot light check the show lights icon and then switch back to infinite light. The reason I got "Extended" version was for the 3D layer support. There are some other strange issues under 64bit mode also, so I use 32bit mode exclusively (which doesn't exhibit this problems) until Adobe fix the 64bit problems. Not a big deal since I haven't found the need to run 64bit mode yet and 32bit mode works fine.

I'm on version 11.0.1.

My reason for OK 3 star rating is based on price (too high for market) and flakey 64bit mode. Otherwise, CS4 delivers.

Rob

Although PS has been good in the past, CS4 makes mountains out of mole hills. If you are a professional...perhaps this program is for you. As a serious amateur, or even a professional who uses Photoshop well...don't bother to upgrade to this version. It is impossible to install, as others have mentioned, and then impossible to use. I long for the days of CS3 or even CS2. This is trash!

Price was exceptionally good, BUT, as I found out, it was too good. The license that came with the product was invalid. ADOBE refused to honor it. The seller did not respond to any of my questions. Fortunately, I purchased it through Amazon and they issued a refund.