Adobe CS4 Errors!

I have had my CS4 for almost 9 months or more, bought it legally and legit and never had this problem before! Just tonight, after opening it and closing it and reopening it through the afternoon, it came up with a screen as I was reopening it and said that my Serial Number or Activation Code is invalid! After Nine months of using it, I have tried to chatting with Adobe and am trying to talk to someone on the phone at this very moment, but at this point it seems hopeless, I don't have the money to buy another one, I got this one for cheap price and legit (or at least I got the software in its DVD case with a serial number) and never had an issue with it! My bridge opens up fine, can't remember if that came with it (I think it did) but I seriously want to hurt someone! I was getting used to my CS4 and really beginning to enjoy it, and now they're trying to **** me over! Excuse my language, but I am very angry!

Andrea, click the HELP tab in CS4 and see if the Deactivate link is checked or highlighted. I seem to recall that something similar to your situation happened to me shortly after purchasing CS4. If you find that CS4 has been "deactivated" I am pretty sure you will need to speak with someone at Adobe to get it reactivated.

Not sure if this is your problem but thought I'd chime in anyway. Good luck.

I got this one for cheap price and legit (or at least I got the software in its DVD case with a serial number)...

Do you mind going into a bit more detail on how or where you purchased this software? CS4 is rarely cheap and legitimate.

Well John, back in probably March I needed it for photography class, so I searched for it cheaper than what Adobe sales it for, found Universal English.com (I think) and I had ordered the Student Version for around $200.00, but they emailed me and told me that they were out of stock on that one and so they'd ship me the Extended Version for no extra charge, which they were selling around $500.00 I think. Wayne, I can't even get into it now, live chat told me to try again last night, so it won't even open up (I didn't know about the deactivation thing until I had closed out of it) and I talked to someone on the phone who said my serial number was invalid, but my Bridge still works?????? Also, my laptop at home has it on there and it works at the moment, see I didn't read the Agreement thing, figuring that I would not do anything illegal on it, I didn't know that you weren't supposed to reinstall it to another computer, or at least the guy told me that, but if that was the case, I figured it wouldn't let me. This is just very upsetting, Best Buy sells it for $699.99 and Office Depot sell it for $699.99, but I would have to wait for two or three months to save up that much; I was getting the hang of it, using it with almost everyone of my photos and really enjoying it, all my best photos have been edited and cropped in CS4.

I did not buy it off ebay, or used, I had meant to buy the Student Edition for around $200.00 which is just slightly cheaper than Best Buy or even Walmart, but they sent me the Extended Version instead for no extra charge (the whole explaination is up there in my response to John). I mean the Extended Version is $402.00 or something at Walmart online, which I plan on getting before January is over with. I just find it very stupid and crazy that I've had this for nine months and it was working fine and great until now.

Ahh, I'm sorry, I didn't see your reply when I posted mine. I had the same problem the first time they had the online activation of the program - I had it installed on my computer and a laptop then had to reinstall the OS on one of them and didn't know about the deactivation thing. I called adobe explained the problem and they told me about the 2 computer rule then they reactivated 1 license so I could use it again. I'd call adobe again and explain what happened, maybe I'm overly optimistic, but they should make things right for you.

Well, I told them that I had activated it on 3 computers, the first one was our home computer which is now my husband's office computer (it was uninstalled there), the second was the one I work on now which the error occured, and the third was my laptop which is still doing okay at the moment. When I talked to the guy, I gave him my serial number, he checked it and said it was invalid, said that I needed to find my receipt (excuse me, but I did not pirate the software, didn't think something like this would happen so I don't have the printed out receipt anymore, it was nine months ago!) and send it via email to them so they can verify it and all that other crap, couldn't hardly understand the guy because he was in some other country, but he said they could not reactivate it because my serial number is invalid. It just aggravates me, I don't use my laptop's CS4 because it is akward, my stepson is going to be using the laptop with his autodesk inventer thing on it for the next two or three weeks, and everytime he is on there, it freezes or messes up, and I am trying to keep my CS4 open on there so that it doesn't do this same thing, but he'll end up closing it out anyways, even if I do tell him not to. I feel like some force is trying to keep me from acheiving my goal, my dream, first I almost lost my best photos and now my CS4 on the computer I work on most is gone. I'm just getting exhausted from trying, but I'm going to save up and buy the $404.00 one off of Walmart's site hopefully by the middle of January, and not install it on any other computer!

For a begginner - you don't need CS4. In fact, most pro's don't need CS4. Save yourself the money and headache and get Adobe Lightroom. I only have CS3 because I got a copy from a professor who had an unused disk. There are tons and tons of people on here who use lightroom and produce images just fine. Look at what Mike Moats can do with just .jpegs!

This is not to imply that CS4 isn't an incredible program, and I would be sad to give it up, but not having it isn't keeping you from achieving your dream. For the time being, you could probably get by using Gimp or a similar FREE program.

- Luke

Yes, I've thought about that, but I love being able to crop my photos if they weren't taken exactly the way I wanted them, and changing them from color to black and white, sepia or using warming filters, adjusting the vibrance and saturation, cloning, healing brush,ruler, and much more. What all does Adobe Lightroom do, my photography class only looked into for a day, and all I really learned from it was that you can make panorama photos in it. I'm so used to CS4 and love everything it's capable of doing, I mean what does Gimp do and what are the abilities on it? Office Depot has CS4 Extended Student Version for $199.99 with my studen I.D.....well I guess I could download the free trial for the Adobe Lightroom Photoshop 2 and try it out. I mean if I look at the bright side, this is a chance to challenge my abilities of taking the shot the way I want it, a chance to push myself...but damn it! I loved CS4.....I feel like a child whose teddybear has been ripped from her hands......a dog whose favorite deteriorated stuffed duck is being thrown away, this feeling sucks, but I must bounce back and learn from this mistake and grow from it....but can I please cry and rant a little!

I can't tell you what Gimp/Lightroom, etc. do, because I don't use them, but obviously plenty of people on here do. I'm almost CERTAIN you can do all of the things you listed in Lightroom (though don't hold me to that, I might be confusing it w/Adobe Elements). If you are taking RAW images, and Bridge is still functioning, you should be able to process the RAW images using Adobe Camera Raw in Bridge, which would let you do a lot of things such as cropping, saturation, vibrance, etc.

I understand it's frustrating to not have what you were used to, but you should evaluate what you need vs. what Adobe makes you think that you need. Even the most seasoned PS users have no idea, or no use for the majority of tools in PS. You also can download the trial version of CS4 - I think it's 30 days, so that will give you a hold over. And for goodness sakes, take a deep breath!!! All those red faces you are posting is making me worried...

- Luke

Sorry Luke, it's just aggravating and makes me feel hopeless and helpless. I downloaded a free trial of Lightroom, so far I've found that I can crop it, and I see the exposure, whatever the recovery thing is I don't know, but I just hate learning new things once I get the hang of something like CS4. I don't really shoot in RAW, or at least I haven't tried to yet, and I no longer have Bridge, I uninstalled everything because it was taking up so much room and I was only using that one part. Maybe this is a growth thing, or a stepping stone I need to make....but I'll puff out my chest and move forward

I would recommend PS Elements over Lightroom.
You'll find that Elements has almost exactly the same workflow as you used in PS, and has most (if not all) of the features you were using in PS.

Well, I looked at Elements 8, but it looked more like it was for scrap booking or something, but I think I found my new best friend (NOT SURE YET!) in Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 Ultimate or however it's pronounced. For $90.00 from Office Depot, so far it isn't too bad, but we will see. Anybody else ever use PSPP X2?

Andrea, don't move away from Photoshop. There's so much training and support and a user base that's ginormous. I agree with John, Photoshop Elements 8 is a very inexpensive way to get you going again, I just picked up a copy for my work PC (I do use the real CS4 at home). The edits you listed above are all available in Elements and Lightroom, and a large number of folks on here would tell you to go down the Lightroom path, but I think at this point you need something to get you going again, and for $79, Elements is a steal. It has ALL of the standard features you named above, and it even has one more thing that Lightroom does not, and that's Layers (which I use heavily). I agree, Elements has a consumer look and feel, but it's no scrapbooking program, it's a powerful slimmed-down version of Photoshop that will do any photographer very well. OK, 'nuff said... PE or LR will get you back up and running, either $79 or $269, your choice. If you get the real PS issue sorted out, then throw Elements on your laptop and it'll work great, and it WILL open all of your existing Photoshop files (LR does also).

Probably after Christmas and all, I'm going to go back to either CS4 or Elements, I like Corel but the part of putting a watermark just doesn't seem practical, other than that I love it already.

I'd be very surprised if something as small as putting a watermark on an image could really be that big a deal Andrea. While I think Elements is a good idea, I'd guess that maybe you need to slow down, think about what you really need/want, and then take the time (possibly a long time) to really learn the software and what it can and can't do.

Well I have figured out how to make the watermark, it is just a little different than when doing it in CS4. I already know what I need/want, the problem really lies in finances, but Corel is really good, it gives me pretty much what I had in CS4 without all the extras. Even though this photo has nothing to do with nature, it is my first one that I have finished in PSP and with a watermark, I have figured out how to resize for internet and I think I made it small enough.