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Extra Stuff That Adobe Installs with Photoshop CS6

LEGEND ,
Jul 05, 2012 Jul 05, 2012

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Just having gone through a test installation of Photoshop CS6 on a Windows 8 x64 virtual machine, I found it interesting that just after Photoshop CS6 went in Windows itself reported, through the Action Center, that a bunch of ''background'' programs were installed, and would I like to go into msconfig32 and disable them.  In short, even Windows thinks the stuff Adobe installs is excessive and potentially troublesome!

As I prefer AutoRuns to msconfig32, I acutally did go and disable the software which I do not need running, to keep the system lean...  It turns out that I actually AM able to disable just about every ''background'' program that Adobe installed, and Photoshop still works just fine.

Just to be clear, the only Adobe software packages I've installed on this VM are Adobe Reader and Adobe Photoshop CS6.

Here's a list of various modules I have disabled without apparent downside:

Programs started at login by entries in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run:

  • Adobe ARM (Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager)
  • AdobeCS6ServiceManager (Adobe CS6 Service Manager)
  • SwitchBoard (SwitchBoard Server (32 bit)

Services started at bootup by entries in the registy key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services:

  • AdobeARMservice (Adobe Acrobat Updater keeps your Adobe software up to date)
  • SwitchBoard (Adobe SwitchBoard)

Task Scheduler Entries

  • \AdobeAAMUpdater-1.0-W8VMRP-NoelC (Adobe Updater Startup Utility)

In the context of a Photoshop-only installation, about the only downside I can see for disabling these things is that since the auto-updaters have been disabled, occasionally I'll need to check for updates manually (e.g., Help - Updates... in the menus, when I hear on the forums that an update has been released).

Many of these things run all the time, from bootup, whether we're using Adobe software or not.  It's no wonder people report that their systems "slow down" over time.

Adobe:  Please consider offering a ''Lean'' or ''Custom'' installation mode in which these things are optional, and provide clear descriptions of what functionality they provide.

Not everyone prefers to give up their system resources for a little extra convenience.

(and no, I'm not interested in posting this ''feature request'' over on Photoshop.com and hoping for votes)

-Noel

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Enthusiast ,
Jul 05, 2012 Jul 05, 2012

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Excellent post as usual from you Noel.

I wonder if you could help what could I disable Adobe wise running on a windows 7 Ultimate system? Sorry to hijack this I have a laptop trying out Windows 8 so will give this a go. Thanks

Gerry

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LEGEND ,
Jul 05, 2012 Jul 05, 2012

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Thanks.

I've just looked over my Windows 7 AutoRuns settings, and it's pretty much the same stuff I listed above but in slightly different places.  On this system over time I have installed multiple versions of Photoshop (Ps 6.0, Ps CS4, Ps CS5, and Ps CS6) and disabled the unneded parts as I've gone along.

Adobe programs I've disabled on Windows 7:

Programs started at login by entries in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run:

  • AdobeAAMUpdater-1.0 (Adobe Updater Startup Utility)

 

Programs started at login by entries in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVers ion\Run:

  • AdobeCS4ServiceManager (Adobe CS4 Service Manager)
  • AdobeCS5ServiceManager (Adobe CS5 Service Manager)

 

Shell extensions in registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\AllFileSystemObjects\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers:

  • Adobe Drive CS4 (Adobe Drive Menu)

 

Shell extensions in registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Directory\Background\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers:

  • Adobe Drive CS4 (Adobe Drive Menu)

 

Task Scheduler Entries

  • \Adobe Flash Player Updater (Adobe Flash Player Update Service 11.2r202)

Services/Drivers started at bootup by entries in the registy key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services:

  • AdobeARMservice (Adobe Acrobat Updater keeps your Adobe software up to date)
  • AdobeFlashPlayerUpdateSvc (This service keeps your Adobe Flash Player installation up to date with the latest enhancements and security fixes)
  • SwitchBoard (Adobe Switchboard)
  • adfs (Adobe Drive File System Driver)

Networking layers started in registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order

  • AdobeDriveCS4_NP (Adobe Drive CS4 Network)

 

By the way, the AutoRuns tool I mentioned comes from here:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Keep in mind I don't have the full Creative Suite, just Photoshop, and I am willing to check for updates manually.

Please understand that fooling with parts of the system like this can be touchy, and you might not want to attempt these kinds of operations unless you're familiar with Windows system management.  That said, Autoruns makes it pretty easy (just uncheck / check a box) to disable things and re-enable them.

-Noel

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Guest
Jul 05, 2012 Jul 05, 2012

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I know the stuff running in the background grows over time as programs are added.  My problem is that I have no idea what the stuff does, and so I feel I am way out of my league at deleting any of the stuff there.  If I open the task manager there is an extremely long list of stuff (Adobe plus other programs), and I have no idea what it does, or if deleted what would be the effect.

For the non-geek users are there easy way to feret out this info?  I think for most of us taking each item and doing a web search seems undaunting as we can read the explaination, but would still be uncertain as to whether to delete or not.

Even with your list above I have no idea what the negatives are (except updater).

So bottom line for  "custom" installations, for the average user pros and cons of having the "stuff" installed would have to be listed so we could make an infromed choice.

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LEGEND ,
Jul 05, 2012 Jul 05, 2012

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No one can know what everything does; it's simply not documented.

So one is faced with the task of disabling it and seeing if any mines are detonated (i.e., if anything one relies upon stops working).  Years of experience in knowing what things with certain kinds of names do is helpful.  Internet research is often fruitful as well.

This is why Autoruns is handy - you still get a line item for the disabled entry, it's just unchecked, so it can be re-enabled if something goes wrong..

At the moment, my Autoruns listing has almost everything that's been set to run automatically disabled.  I review the list when something new is installed.

The system management strategy I follow has kept me from having to reinstall the OS for well over 2 years now.  I'm still running my original Windows 7 installation and it's as fast and light as ever.

Disabled.jpg

-Noel

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Enthusiast ,
Jul 05, 2012 Jul 05, 2012

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Thanks Noel

I am pretty good with software, and have used Autoruns in the past for various things, just I get annoyed with all the extras being installed, as you can see when you install CS5 for example, watch the progress and just the very end says Photoshop, the rest is all various Adobe 'bits and bobs'

Thanks I will have a go.

Gerry

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Community Expert ,
Jul 05, 2012 Jul 05, 2012

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But what sort of overheads are you saving Noel?  Surely those process are designed to make life easier for the average user, who doesn't want to worry about his system housekeeping?

[EDIT]  It does rather put me in mind of Harm (of the Premiere Pro Hardware forum) who is a strong advocate of a lean and mean system when used with a NLE.

http://www.video2brain.com/en/lessons/stopping-software-not-relevant-to-your-work

But this is the go site for optimising a system for PP.

http://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/black-vipers-windows-7-service-pack-1-service-confi...

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LEGEND ,
Jul 05, 2012 Jul 05, 2012

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Specifically, I'm keeping my system as lean as possible so it will be light and fast for the things I need to do with it, occasionally trading a few extra maintenance tasks for fewer processes running and less memory used all the time.  Sometimes the stuff I disable I never would have used anyway.

Yes, of course all those things are there to make life easier.  As you've probably noticed (and can see from the big list of stuff I've disabled above), a LOT of programs try to make life easier.  A good example is the BD-R burner software I installed for my LG blu-ray burner.

Pretty much every application designer figures you're going to do nothing but use all the facets of their application, when in fact it's not the case.  Why Adobe needs all that stuff running I don't know - it doesn't seem to cut into my ability to use Photoshop.  Bridge even still works.  It's not hard to imagine Photoshop actually kicking off the update check when you actually use it - why have something running all the time checking for updates?  That seems excessive to me.

Any one of these things would likely be nearly inconsequential.  How could anyone notice a few tens of megabytes being used up by a service all the time when there's tens of thousands of megabytes to be had, right?  Thing is, they all add up, soaking up a significant number of CPU cycles and megabytes.

But you'll notice in my first post above, my plea is with Adobe to offer a few more options during installation.  I don't advise manually disabling stuff unless you really know what you're doing.

-Noel

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