WinXP hotfix causes Photoshop CS to diaply the activation splash screen

DS
Posted By
Dave_Swarthout
Jul 25, 2004
Views
511
Replies
9
Status
Closed
I just installed Microsoft’s MS04-022 hotfix. It’s the Security Update for Windows XP (KB841873) English SP 1. I’m running Photoshop CS on a year-old Dell Dimension desktop.

It was to address a .job bug (related to MS Task Scheduler) that can exploit the administrator account in very nasty ways. I do not install all the MS patches because my experience and much reading tells me they could break something else, something that was running well prior to the install. So it is always with great trepedation that I install these hotfixes.

I brought up Photoshop CS after the hotfix install and reboot. Windows (or was it Photoshop) displayed a message saying that "Your machine configuration has changed: would you like to continue?" Next I see a splash screen asking if I wished to Activate my copy of PS now? Presumably it is the same screen I saw when I installed PS CS a few months ago. I had to establish an Internet connection and wait until the product was "activated" again.

Everything seems to be working alright. I’m posting this message merely to alert others to the possibility that this hotfix might cause some weird effects.

Dave Swarthout
Homer, Alaska

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DM
dave_milbut
Jul 25, 2004
always install all the criticals. they all work. you’re a sitting duck without them. there was one about 6 mos ago that had problems, but it’s long since fixed.
H
Ho
Jul 25, 2004
You can also clear a registry key to halt attacks and save any grief associated with the hotfix.

Disable the dynamic icon handler for JobObject files by clearing the default value in the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\JobObject\shellex\IconHa ndler

1. Click Start, click Run, type "regedt32" (without the quotation marks), and then click OK.

2. In Registry Editor, locate the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\JobObject\shellex\IconHa ndler

3. On the right windows pane you see a value of Default with Data of {DD2110F0-9EEF-11cf-8D8E-00AA0060F5BF}.

4. Right click on Default and select Modify.

5. Clear out the Value Data listed and click OK

Clearing the value of this key will prevent the possibility of attack by preventing the IconHandler from automatically parsing .job files. The files will no longer have an icon associated with them.
DS
Dave_Swarthout
Jul 25, 2004
Hi Dave,

Thanks for the feedback. I beg to differ with you on the count of bad hotfixes issued by MS over the past few years, however. There have been numerous instances of hotfixes gone bad, many of them cannot be uninstalled if problems do occur, and Internet Explorer is considered so risk-prone by many experts that they’ve stopped using it in favor of Mozilla or Opera.

I have installed the hotfixes that address critical MS security holes but only after the patch has been reviewed and found to do no harm. This caution, along with running the free Zonealarm firewall, and Mozilla as my default browser, has probably saved me from many problems with MS products.

Anyway, thanks again,
Dave Swarthout
TH
Tom_Hart
Jul 25, 2004
I also received a second "activation" screen about 3 weeks after installing Photoshop CS and a day after upgrading Premiere Pro to 1.5. I’m wondering if the Premiere Pro upgrade installation did something to cause this since I haven’t installed any Windows updates since I last ran Photoshop CS. Anyhow, if I have to re-activate Photohsop CS over the internet or by telephone before I can use it, every time my configuration changes, that’s going to be a problem since I do a lot of system tweaking for 3D design, video editing, and post production, and often in remote locations where I don’t have access to the internet, or during crunch time when I don’t have time to call. I guess I should keep my copy of PS 7 around.
DP
Daryl_Pritchard
Jul 26, 2004
Tom,

You should definitely keep PS7 around. Until Adobe fixes their flawed reactivation scheme in PS CS (as if they’ll even give us some reassurance that they’re going to), the only solution of a more legitimate sort is to use an earlier PS version whenever CS goes into reactivate mode while phone/net access is unavailable.

Daryl
TH
Tom_Hart
Jul 26, 2004
Good idea Daryl. I think Adobe will solve the problem fairly soon, since it should be considered a "show stopper" if many legitimate users can’t launch the app in certain circumstances, but the fix will take time to design, implement, and test.
HW
Hans-Georg_Wilden
Jul 26, 2004
Are you sure about Adobe fixing the problems? When? How? Do they even care? ….Same comments as to the "Bump" thread up in the list
Hans-Georg
B
BobLevine
Jul 26, 2004
Are you sure they’re not?

Bob
GA
Gabriel_Ayala
Jul 26, 2004
I read some place in one of these threads that there is a work in progress by the engineers at Adobe. I just posted a question Gabriel Ayala "CS requires me to register the serial number REPEATEDLY!" 7/26/04 1:08pm </cgi-bin/webx?13/66> to see if this is official or not.

Check it out.

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