However, installing it will severely slow down every other application on your system ... simply because it adds more than 3.5 megabytes to the registry. There is no way that any program should hurt your system's performance that much.

In addition,

• Every time your system boots
  • Several unneeded programs will start
  • By default, Version Que automatically checks for and downloads updates
• A new program will execute every time you
  • Right click in Windows Explorer
  • Start Internet Explorer (IE)

This page is still under construction - I've posted it early because, even though it will take a week or more before I have a working system, the information already in here might help someone. Part 2 contains additional data.

The entire product requires 22 GB of hard disk space - but my laptop only has a fairly full 70 GB drive. The solution (compromise) seemed fairly simple - put a few important programs on the c-drive and the rest (including all the examples, stock photos, audio sample, and the like) on a USB drive that is normally not available.

The only obvious options were install on c-drive, or select another drive. If another drive is selected, a 3 GB core is still placed on the c-drive.

So ... I selected the z-drive ... boy, that was a mistake

Take a hint ... don't make that mistake

Normally, any program that intentionally disables other programs is called a virus. (At this point, I have a very low opinion of Adobe.)

Without my explicit permission, and without telling me exactly what registry entries were modified, this ..P..O..S.. basically destroyed my system. It will now take several days to get the other programs working - I have to trudge through the registry and undo the damage.

I feel sorry for normal users who don't have the skills to fix this type of crap.

I also noticed that the external drive kept turning on and off when I was not using it.

After I unplugged the USB drive, Windows Explorer began causing problems - every time I right click a file, the system tries to install Adobe Acrobat. First, a dialog box with the following is displayed

Please wait while Windows configures Adobe Acrobat 8.1.1

And it does this every time I right click ... every time.

There is no way that right clicking a file should cause the system to check for Acrobat ... even if it was installed on the c-drive this still slows down your system.

Yeah, I call this a virus - Acrobat is extremely bad.

This program added the following to the right click menu

Convert to Adobe PDF
Combine supported file in Acrobat...

Presumably, this is the related registry entry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\Adobe.Acrobat.ContextMenu
  @="{D25B2CAB-8A9A-4517-A9B2-CB5F68A5A802}"

So,

• Since this is not user configurable
• Since it is a time wasting advertisement
• Since this requires frequent starting and stopping a USB drive (when it is plugged in)
• Since this makes Windows Explorer mostly unusable if the USB drive is not plugged in

Solution - uninstall Acrobat.

Well - then I could no longer read pdf files (this worked fine before installing CS3). I reinstalled an old Acrobat Reader 6 that I had - I didn't like the new version 8 interface anyway ... I really didn't like it. (Actually, just running Acrobat 6 was enough - it detected the registry changes and I told it to change them back. At least I can now use the web again.)

It is installed active ... and the first thing it did was to download more than 200 MB of new stuff (a complete disaster if you have a dial up connection). And for it to work, you must close all open browser windows - piece of crap.

Its default mode is to waste your time by executing its very high priority task of going on line and seeing if it can trash your system (install updates without your permission). I don't allow Microsoft to do that ... I'm sure not going to allow a company that has just proven that it can not be trusted (Adobe) to do it either.

(Why can't these people name this Automatic Update since that is what it does - I installed it because I thought it would help me handle versions of things I created - not download stuff.)

Yes - I removed this garbage also.

According to Adobe, Version Cue is used to

track versions of a file as you work and to enable workgroup collaboration such as file sharing, version control, backups, online reviews, and the ability to check files in and out.

I normally use flv player (free) to implemented this. However, the Adobe install removed the registry entries I liked and replaced them with ..... nothing. That's right, nothing happens when I double click *.flv files - Instead, I have to right click, go to Open With and then select the program I want to use.

This is what the installation did - I repaired this by directly editing the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.flv
Value "@": from "Flash.VideoFile" to "FlashVideo.FlashVideo"

Well, Adobe did it again

Z:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Contribute CS3\contributeieplugin.dll

Unfortunately, simply closing the IE windows was not enough - some other presumably Adobe program was still locking the drive.

I had to reboot to unplug the drive.

If I boot with the drive plugged in, windows will not allow me to unplug it.

If I plug the drive in after the system is up, then, while the drive can not be unplugged while IE is running, it can be unplugged after it is stopped.

Apple's mdnsresponder.exe was loaded as a service (read that - more difficult to disable) from the c-drive. From liutilities

mdnsresponder.exe is a process associated with "Bonjour for Windows" software. It is used by ITunes for music sharing.

The service for this parasite is named weird to make it difficult to find - I disabled

##Id_String1.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B879762##

How To Uninstall or Remove Bonjour mDNSResponder.exe suggests that mdnsresponder is used to share files - and Adobe wants you to be able to share files with others on your development team. But MS Windows already provides tools to do that. And on a single user system (laptop) this parasite simply uses memory (virtual size is 24 MB, 3 MB in memory) and slows down ALL other processes ... for no added benefit.

These are from a trace I ran - these are not all the changes, just enough to get the idea.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.bmp
Value "@": from "Paint.Picture" to "Photoshop.BMPFile.10"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.erf
Value "@": from "ethereal-file" to "Photoshop.CameraRawFileEpson.10"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.flv
Value "@": from "Flash.VideoFile" to "FlashVideo.FlashVideo"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.gif
Value "@": from "giffile" to "Fireworks.gif"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.png
Value "@": from "pngfile" to "Fireworks.Doc"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.tif
Value "@": from "TIFImage.Document" to "Photoshop.TIFFFile.10"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.tiff
Value "@": from "TIFImage.Document" to "Photoshop.TIFFFile.10"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.asax
Value "@": from "BDS.ASAXFile" to "asaxfile"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.ascx
Value "@": from "BDS.ASCXFile" to "ascxfile"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.ashx
Value "@": from "BDS.ASHXFile" to "ashxfile"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.asmx
Value "@": from "BDS.ASMXFile" to "asmxfile"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.aspx
Value "@": from "BDS.ASPXFile" to "aspxfile"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.config
Value "@": from "BDS.ConfigFile" to "configfile"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.cs
Value "@": from "BDS.CSFile" to "csfile"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.dcr
Value "@": from "resfile" to "Photoshop.CameraRawFileKodak.10"

However, my comments refer to installation and configuration ... ONLY.

In general, I like the Adobe products - and Flash & Acrobat have become defacto industry standards. I just wish there had been a simple installation guide that explained what I needed to know, and options to keep my configuration from being destroyed without my knowledge.

This is my system ... not Adobe's!

URL: http:// cpcug.org / user / clemenzi / technical / Upgrades / Adobe_cs3.html