Frustrated

I am not sure the activation servers are still available for older software. Generally Adobe is only supporting two versions back. The error message may not reflect the actual problem. 

Hi, @MGYunker. You have my sympathy.

First off, I do not work for Adobe. I am a volunteer here, like everyone else, with the exception of anyone who has an Adobe logo as their icon. So, anything I say is NOT coming from Adobe. It's coming from a user such as yourself. Heck, I'm 74 and fully retired, so I do understand.

I'm not a Windows person, but there are two issues that might be holding you back with your older Adobe software: 1) OS software. The handshake that applications and the OS have to send and receive a command, and then send that to the hardware to execute, may no longer understand those commands. From what I understand, if you were to travel back in time to England in the 16th century, you probably could not understand anyone's speech. Then there's the hardware. If old software is sending commands to a new processor, there's little chance that anything there can handle the commands.

So, even if you were able to get your software installed, it is questionable if anything could function in a modern computer. It may be possible, but I wouldn't count on it. FWIW, I have an old laptop that I keep because I occasionally find a file that I need to review, but none of my current versions of the same applications can open these older files (of the same application). So, this is my "intermediate" opener. I open the file with the software that created it and save it in the (at that time), a more advanced version of the software that my computer can then open and resave in the latest version of the same software. So, I am VERY aware of the potential issues.

I think you have two potential options: See if you can find an older computer on eBay or Craigslist that might be able to work for you. Obviously, the primary concern is whether you can install your software on these computers and whether it will function properly. I would condition any purchases on the ability of your software to work.

The second alternative is to get non-Adobe software. There are many PDF software titles out there. I cannot recommend one because I still use Acrobat and do not need to change, but if I were in your situation, that's where I would start. The same goes for CS6 applications. There is no application in that set that there isn't someone else's software that can do the same thing. It may not be as good as (say) Photoshop, but if you have been working with PS-CS6, and you got ANY other software, it's going to be better than what you had with PS-CS6. 

Now, before you completely leave Adobe, IF you do not need Illustrator, InDesign, video applications, etc., and all you really need is photographic applications, do take a look at the two photographic plans: https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/compare-plans.html

I do about 80-90% of all my adjustments in Lightroom Classic. I do use PS for the things that Lightroom cannot do (such as adding text as a quick example), but over the past two or three years it has blown my mind how great it can make my images look. In fact, I've been going back to images I took 20-30 years ago and reworking them because they end up better. Now, I have to say that other software is also doing similar improvements, but again, I can't make a recommendation because I do not use other software packages. But I can suggest you check them out.

I think that buying software is like buying a camera: I use Canon because the menu system makes sense to me. I look at a Nikon or Sony, and I feel lost. Explore the various software packages to determine which one best suits your needs. It may not require rental (as Adobe software does), and it may work for you.

Good luck.