I have an old cs3 version of photoshop that I'd like to intall on my new computer. I have never had trouble doing this, but this computer did not come with a disc drive, so I simply downloaded a version of cs3 from the web and used my serial number which was accepted. When I tried to activate it said I had no internet. I do not have internet issues, so that's not the reason. I tried doing it over the phone, but that has been discontinued. I've tried activating it through the website, but I don't know what to put as the "request code" to generate a response code. Will someone take pity on a somewhat technology challenged individual and help me through this. Thank you ahead of time
The old activation mechanism has been discontinued, so the original installer won't work and neither will your key. When Adobe first took down the activation servers, it provided an activation-free version of the installer and a new, matching key to users on request via a support page (this service is no longer available from the original site). It may be that what you downloaded is this activation-free version, but then you'd also need the matching key, which may or may not be available from the same place as the download. If you got it from an unofficial site, then of course you'd need to be extremely cautious about malware. The legal question of whether a licensed user of CS3 may legitimately use a copy of the activation-free installer and key obtained by an unofficial route is one I leave to the lawyers (I believe everyone who used the official route got the same installer and the same key for a given sub-version of CS3). Clearly someone who does not hold a CS3 licence would to be authorised to use it.
The key question is, what use is CS3 to anyone these days? Not many will have old enough systems to be able to run it at all. For Mac users that door slammed shut many years ago, so it would effectively be Windows only.
About 75% of PCs run Windows, and CS3 can still be installed on an up-to-date version of Windows 10 if you have the activation-free version (I haven't tried 11 yet). That's an awful lot of compatible systems.
On the Mac, it's fine on High Sierra (current less than 4 years ago), and reportedly works with minor issues on Mojave (current less than 3 years ago). Today, CC only lists compatibility with Catalina onwards, which means that users of older Macs are now out of options, since they can neither install the latest sofware nor (unless they have the activation-free installers) the older copy of CS3 they may have paid for.
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