Photoshop Experts - Is this a fake copy?

[liannef]

Hi
I bought Photoshop CS5 Extended off ebay and it installed and I typed the key in off the back of the cd case but it then said key invalid after I opened photoshop again. The guy I bought it from said to click the activation file on the cd which I tried to do but AVG is flagging up as a Trojan Horse and it doesn't look like windows can run it anyway as another box comes up. He said anti-virus software does this, something about a false positive. I tried printing a RGB palette using the ICC profile and it just crashes with the printing box on screen. I have windows Vista which is why i went for an older version as Adobe won't let me install CS6.

I emailed the guy and filed a claim and you should see the verbal abuse I got back! He is no longer registered and looks like he only sold 2 of these and got positive feedback for the other one! Does this sound fake to you or an old computer?

Thanks
Lianne

[Paul]

Tell us how much you paid for it?

[GoonerGary]

What is the name of the activation file? It sounds like a cracked version.

[liannef]

£75? It's activation.exe I can't uninstall it either it just doesn't work. See screenshot attached. I googled the name of the virus and it seems to exist so I've been had haven't I?



[ATTACH=CONFIG]2890[/ATTACH]

[GoonerGary]

Ignore the virus threat. What is the contents of the 'read me first' file?

[spongerobinson]

I'd be almost certain its a fake copy...Adobe activation for CS5 is done online, and not through a seperate file.

edit: what does the disc look like?

[liannef]

Installation instructions etc, just a text file. To ignore the virus I would have to turn avg off as I tried choosing the other options from the list and it still doesn't run. Managed to use the trial version so have printed from it but it keeps asking for a key and the one on the case it says is invalid.

[GoonerGary]

Either the key has been used before or it has been blascklisted. Hard to say without actually seeing the disc. Even if it's a genuine copy, I didn't think you could resell PS or put it on another computer? You can only activate the product once.

[daviddeer]

Trust me this is a pirate copy. These usually come with a keygen to generate a key which you insert. Or an activation patch you apply after installing the program as a trial. Any file which is named crack.exe or activation.exe is particularly suspicious and are in reality a keylogger which sends information to a hackers server. The keygen files are usually falsely detected as a trojan by most antivirus programs because they only generate serial numbers. You could run it sandboxed to protect your system ( program here ) and see what it does. Usually some annoying music plays madly whilst a little elf sits there staring at you. But you will never the less be using a cracked copy of the program and face the risk of legal action if it is found on your computer.
A genuine copy will have the proper serial key on the inside of cd cover not on the cd or the outside (not as a txt file on the cd and certainly not scrawled on the cd in permanent marker). The program will install and then you are asked to activate it.
If the key is not recognised it is probably a blacklisted key and there are a lot of them about. This is what the retail version looks like it will still cost you around £350 new. At that price you are better off getting a subscription to adobe cc cloud.
I am sorry looks like you were duped and the seller ran for it. It happens all too often on that site. You can complain to the powers that be but I doubt if you will get any real help.

:eek:ulp just read that you ran the activation.exe. If nothing appeared to happen the likelihood is that you have loaded a trojan onto your computer. You will need to run a rootkit detector to find and remove it as an antivirus may not find it.

[spongerobinson]

Any file which is named crack.exe or activation.exe is are in reality a keylogger which sends information to a hackers server.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with this. It looks like a crack alright, but they aren't necessarily keyloggers. but if it was a dodgy file, it looks as though the virus scanner caught it. A full virus scan, or a scan with malwarebytes should get rid of anything dodgy, or at least tell you if something is present.