Adobe Gamma Loader.exe, two of them?

Am using Photoshop 6.0 on WinXP pro PC. Noticed in startup menu that a shortcut is in there twice, nearly same name, pointing to same thing:

START > PROGRAMS > STARTUP menu

Adobe Gamma Loader
(points to: "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe"

Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
(points to: "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe"

WONDERED...

1) Is it likely that Photoshop (and not Illustrator, Acrobat, or PageMaker) put one or both of these here? ____

2) Can I delete both or one of these, which one? ____ Is the Gamma thing loading each time windows is started? ____ Is it loading twice? ____

3) I'm assuming this is for color calibration, have an LCD display, do I really need it, if deleted, would all I need to do is go into c:\____? and drag the icon back?

Thanks

Hi George,

It has been a while since I've seen that problem but I do remember seeing it before. I believe it was in fact the Photoshop installer that created both of those startup shortcuts and yes, one of them can be deleted. I think it may have been that if you installed PS6 and then later the 6.01 update, the latter created the differently named shortcut, but I forget which. If you view the properties of each shortcut, they should both be pointing to the same file as c:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma.cpl (I think PS6 used this same location as PS7).

Yes, Adobe Gamma does load each time you boot into Windows but I don't believe redundant processes are created as is often the case with other executables. The purpose of Adobe Gamma is to load your calibrated monitor profile but no, this is of no value for an LCD display. Depending upon your display, most cannot be calibrated very accurately due to brightness/contrast control limitations, not to mention the shift in colors that may occur for different tilt angles of your LCD. Some of the higher-end LCD panels can be calibrated from what I understand, but I seem to remember reading that Adobe Gamma still isn't designed for use with LCDs and that another 3rd party calibrator might be needed in lieu of Adobe Gamma.

As you thought, you can control the loading of Adobe Gamma by simply dragging the shortcut into/out of your startup folder as needed.

Regards,

Daryl

Thanks, Daryl,

I deleted the one with the ___.exe extension. Does the other one still load the Adobe Gamma upon logging onto the PC since it's it the startup menu, is it a big/slow thing or 0.1 seconds, and does it actually *do* anything...

That is, does it "enable" something I can click on (I don't seen any start menu items like "calibrate") that enables me to adjust colors?

Or is it *loading* some color adjustment that is set after calibrating, and presumably loading a no-change configuration if colors have not been calibrated.

Or is it just running some background software that has and never will have any effect on the monitor because it's an LCD. It's a regular Dell LCD, not a high-end one with lots of built-in settings.

If it's not really doing anything useful, think it would be ok to delete the other Adobe Gamma startup item, too?

Thanks, just trying to keep PC clean and running well.

George,

I'd not worry about any resource utilization by Adobe Gamma since it is not a "TSR" (terminate and stay resident) application. In short, leaving it in place will neither help or hinder you since you're using an LCD panel, and it doesn't really "dirty up" your PC for what I understand.

Actually, it is more correct to just call that startup shortcut the Adobe Gamma "Loader". Quoting Ian Lyons ( < http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?224@@[email protected] 3f/10> ), what it does is "load the gamma curves from your color profile into the video card's gamma look-up table" when you first boot into Windows. Now, knowing that one can set up a color profile in their display properties, I've never been too sure as to what Adobe Gamma does that would be different, but I leave it alone since it is apparently needed to ensure good color management.

While I don't believe any harm comes to leaving the Adobe Gamma Loader in place even if using an LCD monitor, it will become a player if you ever attach a CRT and create a profile for it using the Adobe Gamma control panel applet. If you don't expect to be using a CRT at all, I'd move the Adobe Gamma Loader shortcut out to some other location, such as My Documents. That way, you can easily restore it to the original location if ever needed.

As I think of it, since the Adobe Gamma Loader is placed into the Startup folder, it is executed only after most of your Windows initialization has completed. With that in mind, I see no reason that the shortcut couldn't simply be moved outside of your Startup folder so as to be available to run on an as-needed basis. Then, if you ever connect to a CRT you could just perform your calibration and run the loader from its alternate location. Hopefully someone here will correct me if I'm wrong in that statement.

Regards,

Daryl