Participating Frequently

Question

How do we remove this malware/virus called "creative cloud"?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
August 5, 2021
12 replies
40624 views

We are running Photoshop and Illustrator in an enterprise environment and we don't want creative cloud on this environment. Unfortunately, every time you deploy Photoshop or Illustrator on a server, this "creative cloud" malware/virus auto-installs itself (this is what makes it a malware/virus).

I have blocked creative cloud in the firewall, and have become pretty adept at finding all the pieces of this malware/virus and removing it, but is there a way to ensure it never installs in the first place?

Thanks. I'm getting absolutely sick and tired of this, I'm looking to a way to have it reported as a virus and added to my anti-virus malware/virus definitions.

Windows

D

default26530971x2vkax

New Participant

I have stopped using Adobe products for almost a decade now. I am here only because they made it very hard for me to uninstall Adobe products that never should have been installed in the first place. One of my designers decided to install Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, just because he refuses to learn our company's software of choice. The one with the balloon logo.

His backside is now gone.

We only found out about this because he complained that his computer is very slow. That's how we found out that the Adobe services are at it again. The reason why I forsake them almost a decade ago in the first place.
I am here because since Adobe has made sure that I spend 2 hours just trying to remove their software. So I leave this message here imploring all creative designers out there that there are way better softwares out there, that aren't as annoying as this company.

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Lumigraphics

Brainiac

For better or worse, Adobe is the software standard for computer graphics. Everything else is amateur hour. Trying to force designers to use alternate products is a good way to end up without designers.

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Lumigraphics

Brainiac

If 'everything else is amateur hour,' Adobe wouldn't be spending giant swathes of their revenue in the tens of billions to acquire 'amateur hour' companies.

Secondly, relying on the courts to rein in illegal behavior is at best still below the minimum ethical baseline in which a company that a prospering and thriving economy would deem as acceptable behavior from the 'software standard for computer graphics.' Current political practice in the USA also includes passing laws that betray your constituents because lobbyists have developed complex and opaque ways to bribe you legally and/or undetected.

Please know that I am not trying to change your mind about anything — you clearly are entrenched in your stance and my replies are simply to allow others to see as plainly I can articulate how just because a company can get the technical bits of their value propositions dialed in, doesn't mean they can't be cancelled out by an endless number of verifiable practices that are unethical, anti-user, and visibly steering towards being illegal. Your very own message didn't even attemtpt to refute that they have monopolistic practices.

It is clear you are very proud of your Community Expert badge, as you should be, but part of being a steward of a healthy community is accepting that the company you are a big fan is fallible. That improvements can be made. That is what will help them do better — when their most vocal customers are championing not just the company, but their customers, because it is ultimately their customers that are the reason the company will ever exist.

Well I think you are very confused. I'm not a big fan of anybody, but I am a working professional who relies on companies like Adobe to make my living. As for these forums, I'm here to help other users and not as a cheerleader.

This thread was the nonsense idea that Creative Cloud is a virus. It surely is not. I'm not sure where you are going with that wall of text but its really just word salad.

jane-e

Brainiac

Moved to Creative Cloud Services

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michaelvosburg

New Participant

WHEN I leave Adobe, it will be primarily be because of this software behavior. There is no reason my main power consumption should be monitoring my machine's behavior for Adobe when I don't even spend the majority of my time in Adobe products. This software is power-hungry (in more ways than one) bloatware at best and malware at worst. I resent its tax on my laptop's resources almost every day and my patience with it has run thin. It is remarkable that I can perform the same processes on iOS in less time. This is probably part of the reason I spend less time in Photoshop every year even though I've been using it since 1994. I am fully capable of downloading software updates manually. Let me opt out of Creative Cloud monitoring or I will opt out of Adobe.

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default26530971x2vkax

New Participant

I have been a designer for more than half of my life (I am now 48, and I started when I was 20). I was happy to use Adobe products and [don't bother to name the competitor, the admins will remove it, but I like balloons]. I stopped using Adobe products 2 years after they introduced Creative Cloud. And I mean all Adobe products, even the Adobe reader. Why a PDF reader should consume that much resources is beyond me.

Way more powerful PDF readers, like [competitor brand that cannot be named, but I like Forex] doesn't even consume half as much resources.

Yousef9012

Participating Frequently

Hello, the creative cloud is not a virus if you have a problem or something ask a questions

Thanks,

Yousef Aldali

P

Pegasus24031976pxko

New Participant

Totally a virus. I actually think it's spyware. We've been dealing with this Adobe nightmare for nearly a year. Can't tell you how many thousands of dollars we've spent on finding a remedy. Even bought new computers and as you said, it will come back on no matter what you do. And when you think you're logged out, you're not. Your computer is actually in idle and never shuts down. They also plant thousands images everywhere in folders. The problem we've encountered is that once you delete these phony AI and PS apps they reinstall more roots making it impossible to get rid of. Each time I erase all of the Adobe assets they escalated and made matters worse. With each deletion, they come on stronger and been locked out of all of our computers. Let's see if Apple store was able to clean it out. They did before but the moment the machines came back to the office - Boom! It started all over and it's definitely due to someone hacking remotely and managing your computer. People think I am crazy but I've made this my mission to beat these [ removed by moderator ]. Three macs ended essentially useless. And the people at apple are even more useless and have no care to even take a look. They still sit on high horses stating that apple devices cannot get hacked. The creative cloud, which we've used is the culprit. I know how it works...someone has taken authoritative roles over your devices and managing your computer real time and each time you delete a file, it reappears instantly and they will block you from uninstalling it. Wifi is what keeps it alive. The middle man attack comes in through captive portals, local and public networks that just auto sign you in. To Wifi. This problem has even followed me home and infected all of our phones and my childrens phones too. Do not charge your phone on the computer because that will spread to everyone in your contacts. The real problem here is Apple. They have back doors everywhere and still, they insist that the computers are fine. I've gotten on the hackers back end and have seen how this works. Again, they can hit you by just turning on the computer. The cycle starts all over. I feel for you. It's devastating and has left me without a working computer since Oct 2021. Let me know if you want to join this fight. Apple and Adobe will definitely hear from me.

S

Skylark24609508p4ln.

New Participant

I agree it's a virus. I've been trying to 'uninstall' Creative Cloud for some time ( I didn't install it in the first place and have absolutely no need for any design related software as I'm training to be a psychologist!) It definitely seems to be spyware and seems to add program after program the reason for which is known only to Adobe! In the last two days my emails have 'frozen' and reduced from 29,885 emails on my Macbook Air ( yes too many I know) to 66! Most are not important but many are crucial as they are all my files for my current family court procedures .......that Apple have seen fit to place on a cloud somewhere that is entirely inaccessible to me. My emails now also state that I now only have 19,000 left ( all photographed on the bottom left of the screen). When I addressed the issue with Apple Ireland they tried to tell me that the notification I received from Apple that someone was using my Apple ID to sign in to a device in Peterborough, UK was actually myself logging in, in Devon about 500 miles away ( which I have photgraphed and kept). They insisted that 'the map' uses an estimated location. They refused to address the issue of data security breach and data theft and when I asked for the issue to be escalated to a senior manager, each one I spoke to (3 in total) said that they were the highest customer facing operative on duty that day and refused. As they were not the CEO of Apple I doubt that! They then tried very hard to get additional information from me about what other devices I use ( my phone is not linked to my laptop ). Governments on both sides of the Atlantic should be doing something about this abuse of Human Rights ( ECHR Article 😎 however while waiting for that to happen ( could be a long wait) consumers need to club together and take action against this clear malappropriation of private data and computer functioning. Like the Williams v Apple class action case in California currently running. This practice is WRONG.

L

Lumigraphics

Brainiac

Use the Adobe cleaner tool and remove everything from your computer. But let's not make things up.

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Raymond5d50

Participating Frequently

bro its what makes photoshop run lol

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escapetosaturnAuthor

Participating Frequently

Nope, Photoshop runs fine without it. All the CC programs run fine without it.

R

Raymond5d50

Participating Frequently

well it isnt exactly what makes it works. with one google search, you can find that creative cloud is the software adobe uses in order to install their apps avalible with your licence. they require you to use it (probably for a faster place to install plugins for photoshop etc) for more of a way for adobe users to access apps more easily. it isnt malicious in the slightest, im pretty sure in the terms and conditions of any adobe app that creative cloud is required to be installed with ANY adobe apps installed.

just aware, it isnt a malware. me and 99% percent of adobe users use creative cloud to easily access my adobe apps

ps. you can use it without creative cloud, it just makes it harder to install apps

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nathanael maury

New Participant

I do totally agree with escapetosaturn,

creative cloud run like a virus, i disable it to star by when i on the computer beacause it kill my data paket, but it still start even without permition, i try to uninstal it, no no no! it block me... impossible!

I am a long time coustomer of adobe suite, i love photoshop and lightroom, i pay for it ! but in the resent year this way of forsing the customer to be connected at all time is getting more and more on my nerv, i lost few day of work because i was not able to get a connection (i leave in laos where the internet is really bad) I HAVE A LICENCE , I PAY FOR IT but i still get block by this virus way of doing things i really would like to buy the [ removed by moderator ] software and use it in peace!

by the way sometime i am watching netflix and boom no more connection,, i open processus and ho surprise it is adobe who suck it all i kill the processu... it came back ! LIKE A VIRUS.

jane-e

Brainiac

@escapetosaturn wrote:

but is there a way to ensure it never installs in the first place?

To answer your question, the only way I (personally) am aware of is to not install any Creative Cloud apps.

Here's how Norton defines a computer virus.

To confirm on your setup:

Is Creative Cloud being installed host to host?
Does it spread from one computer to another?
Does it corrupt or destroy data?

Did you read the installation instructions?

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/download-install-Photoshop.html

If so, did you read the part where it says the Creative Cloud desktop app will launch on installation?

Jane

Forum volunteer

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escapetosaturnAuthor

Participating Frequently

Any program that installs itself without permission while piggy-backed onto another program is a virus. If you are trying to hide a cherry-picked definition of a virus, it's still malware. Either way, it's malicious software that installs itself without permission. It needs to be reported to malwarebytes and AV as a virus so it's removed automatically and blocked, until Adobe learns to ask the user's permission before installing software.

jane-e

Brainiac

@escapetosaturn wrote:

We are running Photoshop and Illustrator in an enterprise environment and we don't want creative cloud on this environment.

Since this is not a question about how to use Photoshop, I have moved this thread to Enterprise and Teams. If this is the wrong place, they will advise.

~ Jane