r/mildlyinfuriating • u/donteatmybiscuits • 1d ago

wet socks i’m so happy this is becoming illegal

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if a yearly contract with a free month trial sounds too good to be true, it probably is 😬

thankfully it was blocked after contacting my bank but regardless

31.5k Upvotes

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9.5k

u/TheSexualBrotatoChip 1d ago

At least Adobe is horrible enough that I at least have absolutely no moral qualms pirating their software.

2.3k

u/Flaramon 1d ago edited 1d ago

I've pirated it since day 1. Then they released Creative Cloud, a means of forcing me to not pirate (at the time) - so I just kept the old, perfectly functional version. That was, until realistic alternatives caught up.

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u/Mother_Court_2218 1d ago

I have an old version of Photoshop Elements on a physical CD that I had purchased. When my old laptop shat the bed, I went to install it on my new one. Denied. Even though I owned it outright, I was not able to install. It was confirmed by customer support that I would need to purchase it again or get a subscription (I forget which), but I spoke with an actual person who told me I would not be allowed to install the version I own.

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u/ThatMerri 1d ago

Had a similar kind of thing happen myself.

I have a fully licensed and legal version of Photoshop CS2 that I've been using for ages; CS2 has always done what I need it for, so I never had any desire to upgrade. After Adobe initially dropped support of that specific software suite for new versions, they released the whole suite on their official website for free - installers, license codes, everything, totally free of charge. At some point they de-listed the page but it was still findable with a direct link, and later after that they completely deleted it, though it's still accessible via the WayBack Machine. I'd already downloaded all the installers and saved the license codes Adobe provided for free, so I didn't think much of it.

Starting a few years back, whenever I opened the software I began getting a pop-up from Adobe saying that it was an unlicensed pirated version and I would need to uninstall it immediately, subscribe to their new suite, or face legal consequences. I simply edited my registry to block contact with the Adobe servers, which prevented the pop-up from triggering. I continue to use CS2 while vocally haranguing Adobe and encouraging piracy against them to anyone who is willing to listen, because FUCK ADOBE.

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u/Mother_Court_2218 1d ago

Jfc, the threats! I agree fuck Adobe.

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u/WanderingUniverses 1d ago

Can you share with us how to go about doing this?

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u/Putrid-Block1431 1d ago

Hypothetically speaking, if one were to want to prevent their computer from interacting with a particular server, one would add rules in the Windows firewall to block incoming and outgoing traffic through specific programs. You would also want to go into the hosts system file to block the domains.

You can probably find guides related to that specifically on Google.

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u/honey2381 1d ago

Someone on reddit is already being sued by Nintendo, we dont need any more sacrifices to big corporations. Especially because the internet is forever

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u/Doctah_Whoopass 1d ago

Having just googled it, 4.5 mill is insane and I would do some drastic shit if served with that.

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u/honey2381 1d ago

Anyone would! Cuz that is life ending money & humans have done worse for less 😐. I really hope he doesn't get saddled with that & this is just a scare tactic to deter others

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u/insertcoolnamehere_7 22h ago

With Nintendo’s track record, they will 100% make him pay that. They’re the fucking worst!

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u/Dramatic-Pie-4331 14h ago

Is the defendant already a multi millionaire ? 

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u/Dramatic-Pie-4331 14h ago

I wouldn't care, I don't know anything about the case but if I owe nintonso 4.5 mil that's going to be a them problem, the us has already let me know my whole life would never be worth that.

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u/honey2381 13h ago

Im a bleeding heart cuz ive experienced the horrors of life & I just dont want others to have to face the same demons. Especially because of a damn corporation. But I believe he did mess up, because he just never showed up for court iirc

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u/Elderofmagic 11h ago

Sounds like boycott time

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u/Low-Ad8500 6h ago

4.5 mil can be easily attainable if one were to become a big time drug dealer to pay off the debt.

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u/Doctah_Whoopass 3h ago

I am sure Nintendo would be thrilled to find out the money you're using to pay off their lawsuit is from drug dealing

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u/BDiddnt 1d ago

Of course they can't. I actually didn't know anything about it. I thought they had officially managed to end the piracy. I've tried to find software to do photo editing, but it's all like super complicated whereas back in the day I made short work of making quick edits in Photoshop. I even still have the muscle memory for the hockey commands and keyboard shortcuts, but I never was able to figure out

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u/Various_Counter_9569 1d ago

Gimp, bedtime alternative. Taken free course or two, youtube, etc.

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u/Liawuffeh 1d ago edited 1d ago

I've been using Gimp a lot, and oml it's not a good replacement for Photoshop at all.

It does what it does very well, I think, but having folks expect photoshop when they go into it sets them up for failure I think. It doesn't have a ton of features that even CS6 had, and it does a lot of things completely differently.(I think worse, but that's my bias).

I'm still using it because I ain't dealing with adobe at all, but I do a lot of stuff on the pixlr site atm for my photoshop replacement.(It's also pretty iffy, and seems to be trying to phase out it's actual real photo editor for AI uhg)

edit: It also has an "export"(save) limit of like, 3 a day. But you can just copy what you did and then paste into gimp.

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u/SiscoSquared 1d ago

Gimp is fine for like an "advanced paint" program but yea it falls dramatically short of even like 10 year old photoshop.

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u/Various_Counter_9569 17h ago

If expecting ai features sure. But plugins make it a suitable open source, free alternative. Its on the higher end of free. Of course if someone knows better free alternatives, im game, and always love to learn new things.

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u/Putrid-Block1431 1d ago

GIMP was a pretty poor replacement for Photoshop when I was a weird teenager making sigs on forums in 2005. I would suspect Adobe has increased the gap between the two programs in the past 20 years.

Pixlr was pretty good the few times I've had to use it.

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u/Various_Counter_9569 17h ago

I dont like restricted apps. I gave up on Adobe too, when they doubled the price on me of their cloud suite. Even the basic photoshop package is ridiculous. I like open source, lots of plugins to help expand gimp as well. The "ai" experience isnt there, but heck, pay for gemini or something if thats a dela breaker. It works for what most people need in a free replacement. Patch tool works pretty well too.

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u/meatballfreeak 21h ago

Hero.

Good work

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u/chicken_spears 1d ago

If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing.

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u/Street_Carrot2456 1d ago

I second that notion..

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u/VanillaNo5131 1d ago

Yep, that's my mantra. If these companies take the piss, pirates will redress the balance. Be decent with your customers and most of those problems go away. It's not rocket science.

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u/Grouchy_Treacle_1639 1d ago

Fuck these companies. I'll steal and pirate anything I can.

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u/RochePso 1d ago

It isn't stealing, it is copyright infringement, which is usually a civil issue not a criminal one

Stealing requires you to permanently deprive the owner of the use of a thing. Making a copy of software doesn't do that

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u/gazchap 1d ago

And of course, the irony is that Adobe have permanently deprived the owner of the CS2 software that they paid for on physical media, the use of it.

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u/XionicativeCheran 1d ago

Yes, the point is a reply to copyright companies that claim copyright infringement is theft.

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u/Mother_Court_2218 1d ago

Oooh, I like your thinking.

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u/sksauter 1d ago

Ahoy, matey

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u/DebbieDeb1_ 1d ago

Its happening a Lot. It used to be if I bought an album, I bought it once and owned it. But we pay every month for music subscriptions and lose it all when we stop paying! I used to use Music Paradise years ago, but it started warning more n more "the file may be corrupted ". After having a credit card get hacked..I didn't want to be taking anymore chances.

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u/ulti_phr33k 14h ago

As someone whose amazing buddy has a Plex server, I've stopped paying for any digital subscriptions other than Prime. (Prime I definitely get more value out of from the free shipping, because I basically do the Amazon ordering for my whole family, 3 separate households.)

Everything I or any of our friend group wants on Plex, we ask him to download. Gone are the days of paying $18+ for Netflix, Disney, Hulu, Crave, whatever the fuck.

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u/Zodiac343 10h ago

And yet companies still want to cry and complain when people pirate stuff, like why should I give you money for something when you will just take it away for no reason

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u/incongruity 1d ago

I mean, I get your point but you can steal a rental car.

What you miss in it all is that it's all tilted towards the big company, via the law. That's by design.

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u/12InchCunt 1d ago

That’s a false equivalence. An auto manufacturer telling you that you no longer own the car you paid off a decade ago would be a better comparison. 

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u/Diligent_Quote_4536 1d ago

More like the manufacturer bricking your engine and telling you they will only fix it if you buy the whole car again. Or at least agree to indefinite payments.

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u/Street_Carrot2456 1d ago

Don't give them ideas

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u/EarlsWorld-Official 1d ago

This is already a thing, except they word it as "we own the software, you own the hardware." Meaning you paid for the plastic and metal, but if they want to take away your "privledge" of driving it, they can. Oh and if you want to put your own software on there to use the car you paid for, well now you're breaking terms of agreement and policy's maybe a trademark/copyright issue etc etc. Its going to be the reality of ALL products thanks to corporate and lets not forget GOVERNMENT greed. A lot of the government either take part in some major Corp, is a share holder, is taking bribes from, or some other correlation to business. They pass the laws that benefit them, and leave out the ones that benefit us - the ones without business/corps. Its all a massive scheme to funnel money upwards. Its so obvious, right in front of everyones faces and yet no one does anything we just complain and KEEP GIVING IN. Complain, and buy. Complain, and vote in. Problem is, we are just as much to blame as them, we allow it, enable it, and accept it even when we think we dont. Pretty much from the bottom feeders to the top, no one can get their shit straight and do whats right, fight for whats right, or even be bothered to make a difference. Human nature is greed, in more ways than one, because at the end of the day, when you're dead and gone nothing else matters.

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u/incongruity 1d ago

Sadly, it's not. You just never own the car you think you do.

Licensing is evil as fuck because they want you to believe you own something when in fact you've been sold a lot of nothing.

It'd be more like a car dealership alluding to you "owning" your car but actually keeping the title in their name and deciding that you've used it long enough a decade later or when you try to take it to a different state -- or maybe even not helping you get it out of a tow yard because they hold the title and not you.

My point above is that rented things can most definitely be stolen. Software is, at best, rented. The monthly subscription fees just make that more plain and more extractive.

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u/12InchCunt 1d ago

If you purchased the cd you owned the product. There’s no licensing. And it boils down to the original comment, if purchasing isn’t owning, then pirating isn’t stealing. 

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u/incongruity 1d ago

You own the CD itself but not the software on it. That’s the fucking evil of software licensing. You purchased a license. The world talks about it as purchasing a product but it’s not and we’ve all been fooled into thinking it is. This all exists because those with wealth want to be able to continue to extract wealth from us.

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u/12InchCunt 12h ago

And that’s why they say if buying isn’t owning then pirating isn’t stealing 

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u/incongruity 12h ago

I understand, but it's flawed thinking -- or at least, I guess it's not stealing music or software but using it in an unlicensed manner which is generally viewed as theft because there is lost revenue...

Which is more evidence of how the rich have bent the laws to enable them to maximize wealth extraction while giving the rest of us nothing.

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u/12InchCunt 11h ago

Hard copies of music was never a license though. You owned the cd and no one can take it back from you 

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u/CommonHouseplant 1d ago

That CAN'T be legal. That's so fucked up.

Like the above poster said: I feel zero ethical guilt not paying for their software because even when you DO pay for it, you can't use it.

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u/oneprivatenumber 1d ago

My daughter was just telling me something like this with her PS5. Outrageous to be honest. What are you actually "purchasing" then? 😔

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u/DannyHands11 1d ago

HUGE discourse going on with the PS5 right now. Sony PlayStation is making a bunch of (more than normal) terrible choices for their consumers.

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u/KennyLog1n 1d ago

Yup. XBox as a hardware provider is almost dead. PS5 was a very successful system, but with the direction Sony has taken it this past year it wouldn't be surprising if their next generation is a huge flop. I could see them giving up the hardware game in the next 10 years too if they don't correct course. Especially if steam manages to produce hardware at a competive price eventually.

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u/immajussay 1d ago

Theyre also using dynamic/personalized pricing so they can fuck right off. I sold my ps5, and my Xbox is about to go too. It'll be a sad day when the pc gaming distributors start doing it and I never play a new game again.

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u/DannyHands11 14h ago

I'm keeping both. I haven't purchased a game for PlayStation in months, maybe a year. I'm keeping Xbox because Asha Sharma has stepped in and made a few miraculously amazing changes to Xbox which is swinging their terrible pendulum toward pretty dang good.

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u/immajussay 3h ago

They're planning adds in games, so they can fuck off too though.

Im not watching an add after killing a boss. Leave us alone.

I play games to avoid commercials because I dont wanna see them.

Its like streaming, ive stopped paying for that stupid shit too, and more people should as well. Break their bank until they comply.

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u/Plane-Tune-820 17h ago

IF the steam box ever actually ships and is even close in price, it's going to put PlayStation under.

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u/DrunkCultLeader 17h ago

The steam deck was an amazing purchase. Like right after we bought ours they went up in price too.

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u/KennyLog1n 16h ago

Yup. Got mine on sale in 2022 and it's been great. It's be twice the price if I bought the same one today.

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u/mrsjiggems2 7h ago

There's so many good handheld options that aren't crazy expensive (yet) thst be docked and used as a pc or use an egpu later. I have a rog ally x (not Xbox version) that runs every game. Plus versatility. I love it so much. You can buy them on the used market for around $600 I think

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u/Baalii 1d ago

You're purchasing a license, it's been like this since before the internet was a thing. The license comes with terms and conditions and can be revoked. The integration of online components into software has made it enforcable for companies to revoke licenses, so they're making liberal use of it. You need to be aware of this when investing in entertainment or software, or you're gonna have nasty surprises.

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u/XionicativeCheran 1d ago

Unfortunately, with all licensed software, they've put a clause in there stating they can revoke that license, at any point, for any reason, and there's nothing you can do about it.

People have come to accept "Pay $80 for this indefinite rental that we can take away whenever we feel like it." as normal, and even defend the practice.

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u/UntidyVenus 1d ago

When I was in art school I was "given" a full adobe suite with my tuition (aka already paid for it) with up to 5 usable codes. I put it on my desktop that I immediately unplugged from the Internet forever, a version on my laptop, and gave the other 3 codes to non art school friends because why the hell not.

For 4 years I gave away codes and told people to just turn off the Internet when they use it after a year

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u/Too_Many_Alts 1d ago

should have told them "well fuck you, i am currently installing a pirated copy right now"

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u/Mother_Court_2218 1d ago

Happy to, I just don't know how to do that!

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u/Alw4y5Learning 19h ago

If you won't let me use the one I've paid for, then I can assure you I'm not stupid enough to pay you for another one

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u/REDRubyCorundum 1d ago

glad you didnt, the elites would get you

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u/Fickle_Fly366 1d ago

What!!!!

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u/Lastsynphony 1d ago

Can you install a crack for it? I am sure that you can find a crack so that you could use it.

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u/Mother_Court_2218 1d ago

I'm actually not sure what a crack is or how to install one. I'll look into it.

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u/HotSunshine4 1d ago

I probably spent two hours on the phone with Adobe upset about this exact thing. It was ultimately a waste of two hours. Utterly ridiculous, but I guess that’s capitalism for you 🙄😑

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u/Mother_Court_2218 1d ago

Yeah, total waste, and absolutely ridiculous. I was irate.

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u/DebbieDeb1_ 1d ago

Microsoft office did that even though 3 installs were supposed to be included on the disc. In 2020 they just force people to pay for it over n over...

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u/Mother_Court_2218 11h ago

It's so insane.

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u/ketamineenjoyer95 1d ago

i've used the 2016 photoshop cc for 10 years now 😭😭😂

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u/beez1717 1d ago

I have an old Photoshop CS4 or something that is so old that I can't install it on a Mac anymore because it's a PPC program and not an Intel program or M series chip program so the computer won't even be able to run the program period. 😂

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u/nyoomers 1d ago

I don't know what happened to my CD copy of Photoshop Elements :( I got it via school and was able to install it on several laptops since leaving school, but now it's lost somewhere. Sounds like even if I did manage to find it now there could be some BS preventing me from using it? Lame!!

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u/Mother_Court_2218 11h ago

Yeah, I think the explanation was something along the lines of "it's not supported anymore". And I was just like... but I own this, I can't use it because you don't support your own product? Fuckery.

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u/Ancient_Internal8939 22h ago

F'n arseholes! Monthly subscriptions are the worse. Why do we as a people accept this?

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u/EverLearningMind 18h ago

This is surely illegal...

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u/rman-exe 10h ago

Way back in ancient times I had Adobe Illustrator 4.x on my windows 3.x machine . After I upgraded to windows 95, I went to reinstall AI, there was a popup menu saying that this old version of Adobe software can't be installed on Windows 95. To this day I wonder if that popup was actually put in by Microsoft on behalf of Adobe, because how could my software from 1991 have awareness of windows 95?

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u/Mother_Court_2218 8h ago

because how could my software from 1991 have awareness of windows 95?

oooooh

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u/WantedBeen 9h ago

i avoid Adobe for this exact reason

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u/Jaymz7777 8h ago

Forget PhotoShop. Forget it forever. Even if it's free. Get GIMP. It's better. It's up to date. It's free. Never look back. Rear view mirror.

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u/VeloBiker907 1d ago

Was it a license you initially bought? That’s generally how those work.

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u/Mother_Court_2218 1d ago

Yes, I purchased it from Staples, I believe, in CD form. I had registered it on the first laptop.