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Pirate software alerts ever 15 minutes.

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
January 28, 2017
18 replies
106663 views

Hi, I started getting alerts every 15 seconds yesterday at work about my adobe software not being genuine. It's completely distracting.

A) I've been purchasing adobe software for 28 years now. ALL of it is legitimate. Every upgrade was purchased through Adobe—by me. Ever update was manually performed through Adobe's site—by me. I'm a sole proprietor and have literally spent upwards of $10,000 from my own pocket on Adobe software and to be harassed by Adobe alerts like this is ridiculous. I cannot find anyway to turn it off.

B) I've spent hours online searching for a resolution... nothing.

I've called Adobe a dozen times but cannot get to a real person without paying money for a support contract.

I finally called Adobe sales to talk to a real adobe person and they simply say I have to upgrade to CC because they no longer support CS6. I told them I don't want product support, I want them to stop falsely accusing me of pirating, and I want these alerts off my system. Nada... he could only sell me CC.

C) I will never be going to the CC version, especially when CS6 works perfectly fine for me... I use InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat Pro, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, and a few other programs from Adobe.

– CC is WAY beyond my means of affordability. (one person here... loyal customer for 3 decades)

– I live/work rural and can only access a satellite connection: Capped Data Here!

– I will not put client work in at risk in a cloud where it can be hacked.

All of the above are givens... there's no disputing it. I don't want an adobe rep to advise me how they can use a payment plan, or how all i need to do are Dismiss the alerts. I've had to dismiss it 3 times already just writing this.

I want to know

1) Can Adobe TURN OFF THESE ALERTS?

If not:

2) Why is Adobe FALSELY ACCUSING ME OF PIRATING their software. I have proof of legitimacy, including serial numbers

3) Isn't disrupting someone 50 times—and forcing them to perform an action—AN ILLEGAL BUSINESS PRACTICE?

4) Why would Adobe spit in the face of a loytal customer they've made so so much money off of?

5) Exactly how much more money does Adobe feel is owed by a loyal customer like me?

I feel like I'm being held hostage, and some of research has referred to CS6 owners not even being allowed to reinstall their owned Adobe software. Heaven forbid I get a new computer (and toss my current computer) and need to reinstall my owned software.

I'm not looking for software support. I simply want the software I legal own to not expire on me, given that there were NO expiration dates on it's usage to begin with.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Terri Stevens

Hello, I know you mean well but comments like this don't help people with the problem. Shutting down the service sometimes works temporarily, but the important thing is what happens if you ever need to re-enter your product key as it will get rejected. The thing to do is work this through with Adobe. They know the product keys they have issued and the rest are just generated by keygens. It is very unfortunate that people have bought an illegal product, but often the price was a fraction of retail and should have triggered alarm bells.

Adobe are certain their validation process works properly and I think the number of complaints about annoying pop-ups probably confirms that as only a tiny percentage of the user base are complaining. In short contact the company, get them to check if your serial is genuine and on how many computers it's registered. If there is an error then they will help you, if not then you may be offered a deal on a subscription to Creative Cloud.

Show previous replies

StupidJerk

Participant

Me too. I just spent over an hour with the chat person and he was a pile of no information. The only thing I go out of him was the popups are legit. So I called some Adobe number I found and of course they could not help me, but they sent to some tech department. Once again they verified that my software was legit and I was a long time customer of Adobe. He is expediting my problem and I should have an answer if 24 to 48 hours. I told that was a pile of ## as I was on time deadlines. His solution was to uninstall CS6 and reinstall it.I suggested that Adobe has a bug in their validation program or they were trying to lock out non cloud users. He did not like that. Let's see if I hear from them.

Anonymous

Try stopping the service. That worked for me and the pop up windows stopped all together, it all still works the same as ever but those annoying popups are gone.

StupidJerk

Participant

Your advice makes no sense. How can I stop the service. I am using the desktop version of CS6. I can't afford your cloud prices.

Adobe did this to me and Adobe needs to fix it without my having to uninstall and reinstall CS6. I have already spent at least 1 1/2 hours today trying to get a straight answer from the chat room. The extremely uninformed and poor chat person needs to learn the programs of know how to move the problem up the food chain. I have the print out of the chat which I will be keeping to prove the person was totally incompetent.

When did Adobe become such a crummy company, only interested in the big boys? I am suspicious that this problem is a ploy to get me to subscribe to the cloud based system!

Putting malware on a subscriber's computer with no way to remove it, is very concerning and unforgivable.I even question the legality of it.

RedwoodDave

Participant

See the reply by ChusCoch (April 6. 2017) in this thread:

Re: AdobeGCClient consuming CPU on mac, hangs constantly

This is rather complicated since you have to download XCode and learn how to use it, but it works and doesn't require reinstalling anything.

gfigueroa-cng

Participant

It is happening to me too, since today. I even have CC subscription(paid by my work) and CS6(paid by myself). All the software appears as Pass and Pass subscription. Still, I get that pop up every time. I guess being in the US, the fastest solution would be to contact BBB, which is annoying as I'm a legal user that paid a lot in a supported reseller recommended by my university.

Can someone please check the software validation? it is as simple as if all the statuses are OK in the computer, then removed the warning! It is literally and if and a set of updates. You have created Adobe Suite and can't handle something affecting customers.

Claire Thomas

Known Participant

I used live chat and they told me my version is in fact good but that I would have to re-install the programs to stop the alerts. Thanks Adobe!!! Ad spyware to my programs without my knowledge, use it to make false claims and then make ME have to go through upload hell to fix it. Can't you just mark my program serial number as verified?

leehrose

Participant

I too am having a "Non-Genuine Software issue. This just started to happen to a licensed, transferred copy of CS6. I have been using this copy since Adobe validated the license and allowed the software to be installed as valid twice since the transfer in Sept 2014. It was originally purchased on Ebay in the original box. Going back to the seller 2 1/2 years ago is not an option. I'm disgusted with Adobe having validated the serial and software several times until this week. I can't help but think it's an obvious play at getting more people to upgrade to CC Cloud. Since my license "Passed" on all the components of CS6 and show blanks in the tampering field of their "Non-Genuine Software" landing page, I called the number. The (Indian) CSR asked for my email on my Adobe ID and then informed me that although the license was valid, that this was "Tampered Software". I asked for a letter with some proof that this is tampered software and why it has been working fine and validated by Adobe 4x since Sept. They sent me a "Cased Closed" notice. Anyone up for a class action suit?

Beverley Gray

Inspiring

Hi leehrose

I would suggest you contact the team again for further assistance as the first call was disconnected.

Kind regards

Bev

Stone-Rogers

Participating Frequently

Earlier in the week I was contacted by Adobe. The person repeated the same mantra uninstall/reinstall.

We set up a time for Adobe to contact me and we could go over the issue via screen share. It was agreed to do this Friday between 2 and 4 my time.

I got another call from the same person at 4:30 Friday afternoon. He said he would issue another serial number and the Adobe software support person would call me back to work on the issue within 20 minutes.

I wrapped up my business and scurried back home as quickly as I could. I want to get this taken care of as quickly as possible.

I have not received the new serial number and, at 19:15, (my time) I got an email from Milton saying they tried to call but they were getting an "engaged tone"-I guess that's a busy signal. My phone never rang and I had it with me until I went to bed.

Several times Adobe employees have set the expectations to get this matter resolved. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. they have failed to deliver.

Stone-Rogers

Participating Frequently

I spent over an hour on the phone with Adobe last night trying to get this sorted out.

Over and over again, the Adobe reps. stated that I had "tampered" software purchased from an unauthorized reseller. I have the original packaging and gave them the serial number of the product-CS5 Design Prem. My online screen shows all the applications Pass without anything noted in the "Tampered" column, even though the Adobe reps state that on their screens they show the software "Tampered".

I mentioned that I would have purchased this from one of two sources-Adobe or Amazon. Well, they, "hung their hats" on Amazon being an unauthorized seller. I tried, (in vain) to tell them I had purchased the software from EITHER Amazon OR Adobe. No avail.

I went through my Amazon purchases while on the phone with them and I could not find the purchase there. Looking through the Adobe site, I could not find the purchase...

Until this morning. Lo and Behold! I have a purchase invoice number where I bought this from ADOBE. The invoice is buried in a link from the main orders page, "Boxed Sets".

At the end of the call, the Adobe Rep. said I could uninstall and reinstall the software and see if that works OR he could go over Creative Cloud pricing and offer me a discount on CC.

To me, this is simply a way to have users of older software, (that works just fine) switch over to Creative Cloud and be forever shackled to the $600/year Adobe subscription model.

debwarrAuthor

Participating Frequently

stone, whatever you do do NOT uninstall your current software. they CAN disallow you from reinstalling it... they did it to me way back and i was at their mercy. they're pushing to see what the market will bear pricewize—completely unethical.

Anonymous

Hello Deb and Stone-Rogers,
First of all sorry for the problems you are currently experiencing with your Adobe software. There are a few things you need to know:
1) The forum here is largely a user to user forum. Anyone who actually works for Adobe has 'Staff' under their picture/avatar. So although I am an ACP and have a few perks because of that, I don't work for Adobe and have no reason to show any bias towards you in their favour, in fact Adobe expect us to help you not defend them. Looking at the people who have responded so far it looks as if everyone who has commented is also just an experienced end user and not staff.
2) The screen you are seeing is the result of an Adobe anti-piracy initiative, but it is not being downloaded -it is actually a service running in the background on your Mac. This service initially was trialled with Acrobat and last Summer was extended to all Adobe products. It is even present in Creative Cloud 2017. The service was delivered to your computer via an update. I don't know which one but that's where it came from. The service works by looking at your serial number and performing a calculation from which it can tell if the serial has been issued by Adobe and not generated by a piracy tool called a keygen. I'm pretty convinced you believe your serial is genuine-as you would be pretty stupid complaining here otherwise, The trouble is lots of people innocently buy Adobe software from non-authorized sources like eBay where nine times out of ten the software is pirated. Amazon I think is authorized when you buy direct, but not through the third party agents. So the first question has to be where did you get the software? Stone seems to have an Adobe invoice I know. The second question is have you had Adobe check your serial number? If not you can use the chat console on the link below. It can sometimes be busy but the tech does work for the company and unlike me has access to the customer database.

https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html?step=PHSP-PHXS_downloading-installing-setting-up_licensing-activation_stillNeedHelp Contact Customer Care
Once you are sure the serial is genuine we can look at the other thing the Genuine Software Integrity Service does to check for piracy. The service examines key Adobe files on your computer and looks to see if they have been tampered with by a process called reverse engineering. The most common way to pirate Adobe software is in fact a direct replacement of a key dynamic linked library file. I am not certain which Mac OS you are using. Some of the other guys are talking about El Capitan and Sierra so can you confirm what you are using? As John T Smith has tried to point out, CS6 and earlier were written years ago when El Cap and Sierra were just items on a memo pad in the future planning department at Apple-some testing was probably done by Adobe with CS6 on these two operating systems, but nothing extensive and certainly no fixes or patches will have been written for these OS's This has a serious consequence. Modern operating systems are innately more security conscious than Yosemite and earlier. It is perfectly possible that El Cap and Sierra have files requiring higher permissions than was needed before-as CS6 doesn't know that then it may not have access to key configuration files which would look to the Software Integrity Service as if the product had been tampered with. The suggestion to use the Adobe Cleanup tool followed by a reinstallation is a good one. I understand you believe Adobe can block you reinstalling and you are partly right- there is a mechanism, but it's not there to stop a reinstall rather than to prevent installation on multiple computers. Simply put when you had a problem before , that occurred because you did not deactivate your CS6 . You will find under the Help menu of Adobe apps an option to 'deactivate' When you deactivate Adobe registers that serial number is not installed on a machine. When you reinstall that serial it is determined as valid, but if you don't deactivate Adobe thinks you are trying to use a serial twice and makes life difficult. Adobe can reset your activation count from their end and that is what the tech who helped you before did to make your CS6 work. I would therefore suggest trying a reinstall using the cleanup tool. If necessary the activation count can be reset again.

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

You may find that if you contact Customer Care on the link above a tech may do the reinstall for you using Remote Desktopping. However I'm not sure how much technical support you qualify for with CS6 which is now discontinued.

Before doing that you might like to try this:

The popup you are seeing is the result of a service on your Mac. If you open Activity Monitor you should see it running. I am running Windows but it should be similar on a Mac. Try closing the Adobe Genuine Software Integrity Service and see if the popup goes away

I'm not a Mac person, but on Windows you can disable services and I suspect you can do the same on a Mac-so try disabling the Adobe Genuine Software Integrity Service like below.

The popup you are seeing is supposed to be annoying as they want you to properly licence, so the above will probably not work as it is too easy, but you never know it might. I suspect though the reinstall route or maybe downgrading the OS might be the true solution.

Best of luck

Terri

Stopping the service worked for me. It's ended the pop up for now.

DrewWeinstein

Participating Frequently

I just did a system update to my MAC and Adobe is now telling me the same thing! It says something about the software being pirated. Yet when it takes me to the Adobe genuine software screen all of my programs pass, so why the hell did it tell me that my software may be pirated.

My thought is that Adobe must have some agreement with apple to help them reach customers who purchased apple products in the past and convince them to upgrade to Creative Cloud. My line of reasoning is that I wasn't wasn't getting these warnings before I updated my OS... Once I updated I got this warning that my programs may not be genuine or might be pirated. Therefore I conclude that Adobe is making a push to try and get previous customers using older software to update to Adobe Creative Cloud and that Apple must have some sort of agreement with them to help them do this.

While I understand that they want people to update and get the most recent software. I personally don't like the idea of having to pay a subscription fee to get part of a program, that I can't actually own. I find it annoying that Adobe went the way of World Of Warcraft with the whole subscription and keeping part of the program on their server and then giving you only a part of the program that you keep on your computer. I understand that this move was a business decision, and a way that they could generate a consistent flow of monthly income and makes it easy for them to update the program. But i don't like the fact that I can't actually own a copy of the software. Because of this I will not update to Creative Cloud.

John T Smith

Community Expert

Owners of old programs simply have problems with Mac El Capitan/Sierra... none of which is Adobe's fault... Adobe did not change your old program to make it stop working... Apple changed their operating system and THAT is why your old programs won't work, not because of anything Adobe did... Also... every time Apple issues an update, there is the risk that an old program that HAS been working will STOP working... bottom line, old programs require a matching old operating system

DrewWeinstein

Participating Frequently

If adobe is not at fault, and this has nothing to do with Adobe then why is there an article this says it has everything to do with them.

https://betanews.com/2016/05/23/adobe-non-genuine-software/

My programs are licensed, and this pop up is not only irritating to me as a consumer but as a professional that uses adobe products. There is no way that I am going to go through the trouble of uninstalling and reinstalling these programs as Adobe suggests that I do since they are not pirated programs, but "out of date programs".

I understand that programs are built to work on certain operating systems, but seeing that my programs are still functioning and that Apple couldn't cause a popup to appear, it is obvious this has nothing to do with Apple, but with Adobe.

Bottom line I shouldn't have continuously have to put up with pop up that says I have pirated software when I don't!

Szalam

Community Expert

debwarr wrote:
– I will not put client work in at risk in a cloud where it can be hacked.

I think you misunderstand the CC model. The software installs on your machine and you use it on your machine just like the CS and previous versions did. No client work needs to be "in the cloud" at all. It's just that it verifies your subscription via an internet connection every once in a while. You can run it without an internet connection for weeks at a time if you like and it wouldn't be an issue at all.

Also, price-wise, it's fairly inexpensive per month when you compare it to keeping up do date with the CS Master collections and now you get even more software than they used to have back then.

But that's not going to solve your problem now, is it? You paid for your software and you should be able to use it. What I think has happened is that something screwed up your install. Some cleaner software, some malware, or some other software installation has messed with some of the dlls or library items or whatever else Adobe uses to check for legitimate versions and has caused your software to flake out. This is not something Adobe does to your system, by the way. There are thousands of people still using CS6 without issue every day. I repeat: it is something that happened on your end. Now, I do think Adobe support should help you with this as it is a licensing issue, but I can't help you with that as I don't work for Adobe.

I would suggest simply uninstalling (perhaps running Adobe's CC cleaner software) and then reinstalling. That should rebuild the things that have gone awry.

By the way, I am going to recommend that a moderator move your thread from The Lounge where it is currently posted to a more specific forum.

debwarrAuthor

Participating Frequently

szalam, did you have someone put this conversation in another formus as stated above? if so, where. no time to search the internet again to look for it. beyond reporting it the the state attorney general and bbb, i need answers now so i can get back to work without harassment.

Szalam

Community Expert

debwarr wrote:
szalam, did you have someone put this conversation in another formus as stated above?

Yes! But it's not something you need to go look for. I was just saying this thread needed to be moved. That is to say, if you look at the top of this page, it says we are in the Creative Suites forum. This thread had originally been posted in the Forum Lounge which is not a support area at all. Thus it has already been moved to a more correct spot. So, if you are reading this, you are already here!

debwarr wrote:
reporting it the the state attorney general and bbb, i need answers now so i can get back to work without harassment.

I can understand your frustration, but if you follow the steps I suggested, it will most likely solve your problem without the hassle you are threatening to incur on yourself.

If you don't want to follow my suggestions, please try Adobe support again (sales isn't going to help here). They should still be supporting you on activation issues. Just be sure to specify that you are having an issue with activation.

Ussnorway7605025

Legend

debwarr wrote:
1) Can Adobe TURN OFF THESE ALERTS?

yes they could... but they wont

debwarr wrote:
2) Why is Adobe FALSELY ACCUSING ME OF PIRATING their software. I have proof of legitimacy, including serial numbers

one size fits all networking... can you post a screenshot of the notice you are getting?

debwarr wrote:
3) Isn't disrupting someone 50 times—and forcing them to perform an action—AN ILLEGAL BUSINESS PRACTICE?

no it is legal in the US

debwarr wrote:
4) Why would Adobe spit in the face of a loytal customer they've made so so much money off of?

imo the sub is worth it for anyone that is learning or doing web but a 'one size fits all' does leave some people out in the cold

debwarr wrote:
5) Exactly how much more money does Adobe feel is owed by a loyal customer like me?

its more that they can't keep people around to fix issues when 10 years out of date software meets new windows 10... at some point you have to move on

Szalam

Community Expert

Ussnorway wrote:
debwarr wrote:
1) Can Adobe TURN OFF THESE ALERTS?
yes they could... but they wont

No they can't. They are not alerts that Adobe can turn off. It is something to do with the OP's computer. The alerts don't come "from Adobe", they are coming from his computer. Now, Adobe support should have some suggestions for how OP can get the problem solved, but maybe not. I still suggest uninstall, clean, and reinstall.

Ussnorway7605025

Legend

Szalam wrote:
The alerts don't come "from Adobe", they are coming from his computer.

maybe... he has not told us what computer system he has or posted the actual error but I agree with the gist of your argument that support can take it from here

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