PS CS: (Problem Duplicated!) Help Menu = Close Photoshop?

I know I’m wordy, but this is a doozy…

OK, first let me say that while I’ve successfully duplicated this problem a few (5-6) times today, it isn’t with every effort that has been attempted. But maybe I’ll have some useful info to present here. Also, even as it appeared the problem happened primarily when I accessed Photoshop Help from the Help menu, it also happened once when I tried re-opening a file from the Open Recent menu. I’ve no reason to suspect the file is corrupt in any way, if that could be a factor, and the file has never been edited in PS CS. I believe any editing was last performed in PS7 if even then. The file (87KB) is available here: <http://jazzdiver.com/photoshop/ps8/jennifer.jpg>

Now, as previously reported, I’ve been working on Photobars CS and had suspected that PhotoTools 3.06 was a possible cause of the problem since it inserts an Extensis menu that shifts the Help menu over. Given the once instance of PSCS aborting when accessing the Open Recent menu, I tend to now rule out that idea. For further reassurance, I removed the Extensis directory from the Plug-ins directory, as well as all Extensis support files installed in the PSCS root and Plug-ins directory. This effectively deleted all Extensis plug-ins. The problem was still observed…twice I think.

Although I have played around with the activation crack some during the course of using PS CS, that was not the source of the problem as it was not installed at the time…it’s a bit unwieldy to leave in for obvious reasons. All original PS CS files were in place. However, I have not as yet activated PS CS and the only thing I’ve done today that departed from normal use was to cancel the Activation process when I accidentally selected it. During that instance of PS CS use, the problem with the abort occurring did not arise. On a subsequent startup of PS CS, the abort did reoccur, and I captured the Task Manager list at that time. That image is here: <http://jazzdiver.com/photoshop/ps8/taskmanager.jpg>.

Note that the first two entries with the tilde symbol are normal, as they are related to the Macrovision process used for activation, with the 2nd entry added when activation is cancelled. Each time that I restarted Photoshop, I made certain I allowed time for those two entries and the Adobe License Manger service to shut down.

Now, simple though it is…and yet not always reliable….here are the few steps I performed that found the problem occurring. I was attempting to explore an answer to the post about the deleted 3D Transform filter, knowing it had been removed yet uncertain if maybe the Transform options might’ve addressed it somehow (nope). The steps taken were:

1. Open the image
2. Select a region then Ctrl+T to activate the Transform marquee
3. Select Photoshop Help…and find it unavailable
4. Cancel the Transform operation by clicking the slashed circle symbol
5. With the selected area still active, reselect Photoshop Help
6. Watch PS CS abort suddenly…but not every time.

For one instance of seeing this problem occur, PS CS didn’t abort but rather reported two errors, the closure of the first leading to the second:

1. Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library: Runtime Error! Program: D:\Adobe\Photoshop CS\Photoshop.exe – R6025 – pure virtual function call.

2. Adobe Photoshop: Photoshop.exe – Application Error: The instruction at "0x041e97ab" referenced memory at "0x00000004". The memory could not be read. Click on OK to terminate the program.

I believe the were the same errors reported the first time I saw this problem occur.

Hopefully this problem is a rare one from a usage perspective, as I’d hate to be editing an image and suddenly lose it when the program aborts due to some other sequence of actions that might trigger the same effect. I think I’ll just avoid accessing Photoshop Help via the menu and create a link to it instead. If the problem arises when accessing any other