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Adobe & Automatic Startups

Laisha

Laisha

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 21, 2014
152
29
Far northern Maine.
I -- ill-advisedly -- signed up to "lease" Adobe Photoshop a few months ago. I rarely use it, but when I do, I use it a lot.

But that's not pertinent. Here's the problem:

I only have 8 gigs, and Adobe now uses most of that every time I boot the computer up.

About half of them can be force quit from the Activity Monitor, but the other half are persistent.

I have 8 more months on my contract with Adobe, and after that, it's gone. In the meantime, I'm stuck.

So, here's the question:

How to I keep Adobe from starting up automatically?

Failing that, how do I get rid of this crap once it's started?
 
NOTE: I don't use Photoshop and the rest of the Adobe suite(s), so, use caution (not sure what might be out there).

Also...
From Finder, Go > Go To Folder: enter ~/Library

In there, go to folder LaunchAgents, see if anything with "adobe" in the name. Select and delete.

Might also, just to be safe, check /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons (though might want to avoid the "com.adobe.fpsaud.plist" file: that is the Flash updater process).
 
System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items

Do not uncheck or check. That only controls whether the application launches in the background or foreground.

To stop the application or service from launching, you have to highlight it then click on the minus button on the bottom left. If the minus button is greyed out, you have to click on the lock icon and unlock it first
 
Thank you guys.

There isn't anything in Login Items. I think I took all of that when I called Apple for help on it. In any event, it's empty.

I did remove the thing in LaunchAgents. I don't have anything called LaunchDaemons, so I guess we'll have to see what happens.

Will report back in a few days to let you know if that worked.

:- )

PS Ok. I found LaunchAgents & LaunchDaemons. Working on that now.
 
Laisha said:
:-( That didn't work.

I hate Adobe!

Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Look in all these folders. Note that first one is in your users folder.

Code: 
~/Library/LaunchAgents (~ is your users folder)
/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/Extensions/
 
Laisha said:
:-( That didn't work.

I hate Adobe!

Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

I use CC daily, professionally. I have spent hours upon hours trying to decipher, circumvent and/or control the rampant infestation of startup processes they lay on us now. There are two options available, only.

OPTION 01. Uninstall the CC Desktop App. It will not affect your currently installed applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. They will still run legally and without issue. The downside to this is you will no longer be able to update your apps. At least not through the CC manager (CC Desktop App) obviously, because you've just deleted it. But there are options, read on.

01a. Uninstalling with the CC Cleaner Tool. You select ONLY the CC Desktop App to be cleaned and it will genuinely remove it, although it leaves the dozens of various preference files scattered across the system. You most likely will be able to still update your apps but it's done in the older, pre-CC way, through AAM. You do this by selecting application menu Help > Updates from within all the individual apps themselves and AAM with launch and check for updates, just like it has always done prior to the CC model.

Note: I say "most likely will be able to still update..." because I cannot guarantee this will not change at any given moment. Adobe has now deleted any options for offline installers and day by day they are making it harder to do anything without the obnoxious, attention whore CC Desktop App.

01b. Uninstall with the provided CC Desktop Uninstaller. Yes, it's entirely different than the CC Cleaner Tool as it only relates to the CC Desktop App whereas CC Cleaner Tool is related to all of Creative Cloud installs, including host files. With Desktop Uninstaller you may run the risk of it deleteing AAM along with, making updating impossible. Again, I cannot be certain as this may change at any time. If this happens your only option will be to reinstall CC Desktop when you know there are available updates. Remember, there are NO offline installers anymore so it's CC or nothing.



OPTION 02. Locate the previously mentioned /LaunchDaemons and /LaunchAgents files and either edit them to RunAtLoad False or just delete them entirely. I suggest the RunAtLoad False method because it's then up to you to turn it on or off with the key entry True or False. You could just move them to another folder to stop them and move them back to start them.

But there are still other settings that have to be changed as well, for example, within the CC Desktop App itself (right-click > Show Package Contents) and dozens of other places...

Honestly, as I'm typing this out I'm realizing it's a huge, tedious, job. They install **** absolutely everywhere. Sorry, I'm done for now but I hope that's at least a start.

I will share more instructions in this thread if you or anyone else wants more info. Happy to do it, I know what a nightmare Adobe has become.
 
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Laisha said:
I only have 8 gigs, and Adobe now uses most of that every time I boot the computer up.

About half of them can be force quit from the Activity Monitor, but the other half are persistent.
Click to expand...

I assume you are talking 8gigs of RAM?
Under Preferences -> Performance you can adjust the amount of RAM that PhotoShop uses. By default it is set to use 70%.


"About half of them"
What exactly are you talking about here? What is them? Especially the bigger GB processes.

I use Adobe CC and never seen anything like those numbers you are talking about in the activity monitor at boot time (Working with the apps of course. That is the whole point of them upgrading to 64 bit architecture so we can take advantage of the computers resources).

Maybe you should download the the Adobe CC Cleaner tool (as mentioned by grauenwölfe) https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html
and my advice would be to remove everything it can find - reboot you machine - run the first aid on disk utility - then download and install again. Those numbers you mentioned are crazy. Something is definitely not right (possibly with your installation - me thinks).

Looking at my activity monitor now with PhotoShop open - I see in memory a bunch of Adobe processes, CC Processes and Core Sync process . Max: PhotoShop = 280.6 MB Min: AdobeCRDaemon 1.5MB

Laisha said:
I hate Adobe!
Click to expand...

Well - I love Adobe :D

grauenwölfe said:
I have spent hours upon hours trying to decipher, circumvent and/or control the rampant infestation of startup processes they lay on us now.
Click to expand...

Why?
 
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@Laisha take a look at Affinity Photo. While it's not up to par with Photoshop, I have read many reviews from people who have been PS users for 10+ years and love the direction it's going. Many have said it could be the replacement for PS. And you don't have to pay a subscription, just a one-time payment for the app ($50 I believe). Even my friend, who is a graphic designer, made the switch. She's all about it now. Might be something else for you to use once your lease is up. It's in the App Store.
 
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I use some of the Adobe apps all day every day, but I do agree with simon lefisch. Affinity Photo is a perfectly fine app and well suited to a lot of people(designers/students/hobbyists/anyone really) and certain workflows. The more choice and competition in this area, the better in my mind. There is absolutely no point in paying a subscription for something unless you use it.

If people don't like Adobe - then they should not use their products. There is plenty of choice out there.
The Adobe CC Suite of apps is not for everyone. If you are a solo designer working mainly on web based content - then in reality Affinity and many others (including Adobe) will be absolutely fine.

If on the other hand you intend to collaborate with people, work in a studio or deal with printing companies etc, then using Adobe software will make your life a lot easier. They are the industry standard for design.
 
grauenwölfe said:
01a. Uninstalling with the CC Cleaner Tool.
Click to expand...

I'm about to try that.

I swear, the SECOND my year with them is up, I'm tossing it and going back to GIMP!
[doublepost=1470785550][/doublepost]
mossy said:
I assume you are talking 8gigs of RAM?
Under Preferences -> Performance you can adjust the amount of RAM that PhotoShop uses. By default it is set to use 70%.


"About half of them"
What exactly are you talking about here? What is them? Especially the bigger GB processes.

I use Adobe CC and never seen anything like those numbers you are talking about in the activity monitor at boot time (Working with the apps of course. That is the whole point of them upgrading to 64 bit architecture so we can take advantage of the computers resources).

Maybe you should download the the Adobe CC Cleaner tool (as mentioned by grauenwölfe) https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html
and my advice would be to remove everything it can find - reboot you machine - run the first aid on disk utility - then download and install again. Those numbers you mentioned are crazy. Something is definitely not right (possibly with your installation - me thinks).

Looking at my activity monitor now with PhotoShop open - I see in memory a bunch of Adobe processes, CC Processes and Core Sync process . Max: PhotoShop = 280.6 MB Min: AdobeCRDaemon 1.5MB



Well - I love Adobe :D



Why?
Click to expand...

Thank you for your input,
[doublepost=1470785778][/doublepost]
simon lefisch said:
@Laisha take a look at Affinity Photo. While it's not up to par with Photoshop, I have read many reviews from people who have been PS users for 10+ years and love the direction it's going. Many have said it could be the replacement for PS. And you don't have to pay a subscription, just a one-time payment for the app ($50 I believe). Even my friend, who is a graphic designer, made the switch. She's all about it now. Might be something else for you to use once your lease is up. It's in the App Store.
Click to expand...

I'll check it out, Simon. But I'm thinking about going back to GIMP. It's very similar to PS and does everything PS does. Plus it's free. :) My real problem is that I'm in a 1-year contract to use PS.
 
You might also want to create a system report with Etrecheck and paste it here. It shows you where the cause of the autostart is. Unfortunately, it is possible for an application to launch without using a login item or launch agent/daemon, which can make it difficult to prevent this.
 
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I finally gave up and just cancelled. It cost me like $30, and it was WELL worth the time that I just saved. :)

Thank you all for your help.
 
Did anyone find a way to stop these processes from running automatically? They do not appear in the Login Items.

They appear to run, even without Adobe software (Lightroom/Photoshop/etc) running - and significantly impact network activity (visible via Little Snitch) and most importantly, battery life!!

Specifically:
  • CCXProcess
  • Core Sync
  • Creative Cloud
Will look at 1024724's pointers in post #9. Any sure fire other suggestions?
 
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