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What is AdobeGCClient.exe?

Community Beginner ,
Sep 08, 2015 Sep 08, 2015

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Hello,

What does the program adobegcclient.exe do?  I mean, specifically, what does it do?  I'd like to know what functions it performs (again, specifically) and why it's apparently included in Adobe CC.

There was a question last year about it interfering with an antivirus program.  That is not what I'm asking.

Thanks!

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Oct 02, 2015 Oct 02, 2015

Hi Paul,

The AdobeGCClient.exe is a process that runs as part of the Adobe Software Integrity Service validation testing, which checks for any tampering with Adobe Software program files or improper or invalid license.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

David

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Adobe Employee ,
Sep 09, 2015 Sep 09, 2015

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Hi Paul,

Please see What is AdobeGCClient.exe ? AdobeGCClient.exe info

Hope that helps!

Regards,

Sheena

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 09, 2015 Sep 09, 2015

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Sheena,

The information at ProcessChecker - What is AdobeGCClient.exe ? AdobeGCClient.exe info - that you referenced does not help at all.  All it says is that the program was written by Adobe - I'd guessed that already - and that ProcessChecker has seen "about 1 different instances of AdobeGCClient.exe in different location", and that ProcessChecker doesn't think it's malware.

What I'd like to know is:  what does it do?  What does "GC Client" mean?  What does "GC" stand for?  It must be an acronym for something...  What functions does it perform, why does the program exist, and why is it included in Adobe CC?  (Or is it, in fact, included in Adobe CC?  Is it part of some other Adobe product?)

That's the information I'm after.

Thanks,

Paul

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New Here ,
Sep 29, 2015 Sep 29, 2015

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i think GC stands for "Garbage Collection".

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Oct 02, 2015 Oct 02, 2015

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Hi Paul,

The AdobeGCClient.exe is a process that runs as part of the Adobe Software Integrity Service validation testing, which checks for any tampering with Adobe Software program files or improper or invalid license.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

David

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Explorer ,
Oct 05, 2015 Oct 05, 2015

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Hi.

I have a massage error when I turn on the computer - "AdobeGcclient.exe-system error"

"The program can't start because adobe_caps is missing. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem".

Please your help.

Thank you.

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Explorer ,
Oct 07, 2015 Oct 07, 2015

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I'm getting this same error every time I open an application

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Adobe Employee ,
Oct 07, 2015 Oct 07, 2015

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Have you tried uninstalling & reinstalling ? The best option is to contact support & take assistance. https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

Regards

Rajashree

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Explorer ,
Oct 10, 2015 Oct 10, 2015

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Which application is it associated with? I get the error just about every time a Adobe application is launched

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Explorer ,
Oct 11, 2015 Oct 11, 2015

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With all of them. Kind of testing...

I contact the support team, they didn't have a solution for that and asked me to be in touch with the Expert Team on Monday.

I will update...

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 15, 2016 Aug 15, 2016

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Hi we have deployed Adobe CS6 Design Standard in our Citrix environment. We are restricting certain users from using Acrobat X Pro by using AD groups. After we did this, the users who do not have access to Acrobat X Pro, while launching any Adobe Application, are getting an error pop up that says Adobe GC Client has stopped working.

  • What does Adobe GC Client do? What would be the impact if it is prevented from executing, say be DEP? Will it cause license validation issues later after the 90 day period?
  • Is there a better way to get around this as we do not want every citrix user to have access to Acrobat PRO which allows them modify PDFs.

The screengrab of the error is pasted below.

Any help is much appreciated.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 15, 2018 Jun 15, 2018

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I understand Adobe's interest to stop piracy.  I have been a paying subscriber of CC for a long time because I understand that software takes money to make.  I am a software developer.

On the other hand,  when I start my computer it seems every company I have heard of and have heard of starts some program to do something that might be valuable,  but it means I lose 5-10 minutes of productivity with every reboot.

I really have no problem with Adobe having a security checker that runs when I start an Adobe product but I have days when I don't use Adobe and it just adds to this "tragedy of the commons" situation where every individual software company that adds a startup app can blame the others,  but when everybody thinks that way,  the industry threatens itself.

It is like air pollution,  Adobe can sell CC because it is possible to get work done on the PC platform.  When the PC platform rots,  fewer PCs will be sold.  Adobe does not have a plan for a phone-based product that brings in anywhere near the ARPU that CC does.  Fifteen years now the CEO will be trying to explain what went wrong and probably won't get to the root cause which is a "talk to the hand" mentality that you get when you talk to vendors.

Today many people perceive a crisis of digital technology which includes the issues with Facebook but also a general lack of respect for people's attention,  particularly on the part of those people themselves.  Even the chairman of Intel has finally articulated that "control over your attention" is a place where the PC can hold off the phone.  (Unfortunately he doesn't have answers for what they do can to help other than "not be a phone")

And the problem is you.  Only software vendors can save the PC platform and it comes from raising standards across the board,  particularly for major software vendors like Adobe.

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 12, 2019 Jan 12, 2019

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… and why on earth does AdobeGCClient.exe chew up 12% of my CPU time ALL THE TIME, unless I kill it?  I mean, checking for software integrity shouldn't be THAT hard to calculate.  This needs fixing, folks at Adobe!  Or, at the minimum, a simple solution to the (many) users affected by it should be provided.  Anyone?

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New Here ,
Jan 16, 2016 Jan 16, 2016

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My guess is "GC" stands for Genuineness Checker ...

The process regularly tries to contact one of three addresses which all belong to Amazon's AWS cloud computing platform. Such a server could have been rented by anyone. At first this looks like suspicious behaviour that should be blocked by your security software.

However, the executable is signed by Adobe Systems, and there's a config file in the Acrobat\GC folder pointing to "genuine.adobe.com" which turns out to resolve to these three addresses.

There's a signature to be transmitted, probably a unique identifier of your system, and validation rules to be downloaded. Whether these serve for malware protection or piracy prevention is anyone's guess. I sure wish these mechanisms didn't behave like spyware, raising all kinds of alarms.

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Participant ,
Jan 18, 2020 Jan 18, 2020

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Given that you have looked into this a little bit more... any idea how frequently it is hitting up genuine.adobe.com? 

 

Is there any reason this needs to be done at startup and couldn't/shouldn't just be invoked when an application is used or an add-in say PDF converter is run? 

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New Here ,
Apr 27, 2017 Apr 27, 2017

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Hi Sheena, Since you are list as staff.  Would you please answer these questions:

What is the purpose of AdobeGCClient.exe ?

Also how do I correct this error:

At Windows startup this error occurred:

"AdobeGClient.exe –System Error

The program can’t start because MSVCP140.dll is missing from your computer.  Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem"

There seems to be no solid answer from anyone out there.  Please assist. Thank you, Ron Maagero

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New Here ,
Apr 27, 2017 Apr 27, 2017

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Hey ronm48545297, so I am working on this problem now. I work in the IT department at my work but you need to be able to get the msvcp140.dll file from another computer and insert it into the correct file location where it belongs. After that you need to use Command Prompt to install it in the regsvr32.

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New Here ,
Sep 07, 2017 Sep 07, 2017

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Hallo Adobe Team, can I delete this (AdobeGCClient) on my Mac (I have Adobe PSE & PrE installed)

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New Here ,
Dec 06, 2015 Dec 06, 2015

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Hi,

I have been having this and a recurring Acrobat problem for a while now.

I have uninstalled, reinstalled Adobe CC Desktop and other apps many times, as this is what the Helpdesk instructs.

I have offered to enlist onto a BETA service, as there exists a Senior Team working on this issue.

I think Adobe software is great, but its apparent there are issues with either removal tools, updates or something.

Its not normal for a Garbage Collector to create temp log files without the program being launched.

I have even considered someone using my machine as a stealth rendering nest - is this possible?

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Explorer ,
Feb 04, 2018 Feb 04, 2018

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The Windows 10 task manager says it has High Start-up impact. So it slows the system noticeably even when no Adobe applications are being run. It is semi-malware.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 04, 2018 Feb 04, 2018

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As Dave and others pointed out​: the program checks for any tampering with Adobe Software program files
or improper or invalid license - even when you don't run any Adobe software. It's not malware.

If MSVCP140.dll is missing, you may need to download Visual C ++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015.

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Explorer ,
Feb 04, 2018 Feb 04, 2018

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It slows down the system for no tangible benefit to the user, even when no Adobe software is being run. So while it isn't malware proper because it's not malicious, it is so badly written as to noticeably harm user systems.

Hopefully in the future Adobe CC desktop applications can be packaged for access via the Windows Store which will remove the need and ability for Adobe to include intrusive license detection software, updaters, and other auto-running software.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 15, 2018 Jun 15, 2018

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Good Luck.  My experience is that the Windows Store gets corrupted and you can't use any Windows Store apps.

The Morons at Microsoft tell you should delete your account and reconfigure all the applications you use every day

(waste at least a day of time) and then maybe it will work.

There is exactly one Windows Store app I need to use,  the program to drive my scanner.  The number of real Windows apps that I use is countless.

Thus there is the vicious cycle that Windows Store is broken,  users don't waste time with it because real Windows apps work better.  Developers have no reason to make worse applications for users that don't exist,  etc.  Microsoft can't control all of those factors,  but they could build a wizard to rebuild the Windows Store metadata when it gets corrupted.  But it doesn't.  What are you going to do?  Buy a Mac?  Run GUI applications on Linux?

Microsoft will eventually sacrifice Skype and Office to the Windows store and after Office 365 revenue stops they will say it was because Dell hasn't been making laptops that are thin and shiny enough, ...

What do you expect from a billion dollar software company

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 11, 2018 Feb 11, 2018

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Adobe Genuine Copy (Validation Utility) This program slows my computer down at start up with Windows Creator update.  Need to move on to a user friendly application at end of service.  Similarly, slows the boot up of Lightroom.  GC Invoker Utility crashes the system.

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 13, 2018 Feb 13, 2018

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Need some help here as well. Been on the phone with Adobe support to no avail. Cleaned and reinstalled my adobe illustrator and Acrobat Pro a half a dozen times and still I get this dragging my CPU down by 50-75%. I'm on a Windows 7 machine.

This is unacceptable.

This is malware I purchase and subscribe to monthly. Unbelievable. Now I wait for a phone call back on my "escalated" service issue.

Need a better solution!

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