For Photoshop CS3 (ps ver 10), there is no way to activate it because Adobe shutdown the activation servers, so you would only get thirty days before it would come up with the needs to activated to continue using message.
Same goes for Photoshop CS (ps ver 8.0) on the Windows side and Photoshop CS2 (ps ver 9.0) on both Mac and Windows.
For PSE 10 and 11, even though they may not require activation/sign in at install like say PSE 2024, they will still silently activate when you start them and your internet is connection is on.
PSE 12 and newer definitely require sign in (activation) just like newer PSE versions like PSE 2024.
There are also many regional aspects to activation, so while a version PSE may require activation in one country, in another it may not. Also some versions differ depending whether you bought/downloaded it electronically as Adobe used to call it or bought a cd/dvd fro third party reseller.
Only Adobe knows all the variables when it comes to how or if any of their software needs activation or calls home.
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