What's Up With my Photoshop CS 8.0?

To my knowledge, Photoshop CS current version is only at version 6. So I don’t understand your question, especially when you say that CS 8 is an “old” version. Photoshop is not even at version 8 yet!

@2davidc8 Im guessing he means Photoshop 8 which was the version shipped with the first creative suite so is sometimes referred to as Photoshop CS. Photoshop CS6 could be referred to as version 14.

Your problem is with your windows user account. For some reason something has changed there, this may have been done as part of cleaning out the virus.

Did you change accounts during that time? Does that ring any bells?

If not, then you want to make sure your current account still has permissions to administer the computer.

That looks like Windows 7 (seriously, why the font change?)... if so you can go to Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Find your account and then “Change Account Type”... you want to be in the administrator group to install software.

If you’re already in the Admin group, then you’ll need to take a look at permissions for the files. You can go to whatever you’re trying to run, right click on it, and then Properties -> Security Tab. Make sure you are able to “Read and Execute” the files you’re trying to run.

If you don’t have administrative rights, and don’t have another account on the computer that does, it’s going to be hard to fix. So if this account can’t make changes, do you have another on the computer that can?

Hope it helps.

Ah, I see, @Lightlyseared. Thanks.

@2davidc8 Apologies for the confusion, It was strange to me as well but simply the name it displays in the loading screen and I only recently realized it also goes by Photoshop 8 CS.

@funkdaddy Not only am I the administrative account but also the ONLY account as this is a personal laptop.
I’m getting another error when clicking on the security tab in the properties window:

“The name ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Photoshop CS\Photoshop.exe’ specified in the target box is not valid. Make sure the path and file name are correct.”

And apologies for the font, I’ve been meaning to change it again. Haven’t done it in literally years and forgot it effected the start menu not only the desktop icons.

@DarknessWithin – The error means the Photoshop files aren’t there any more. Either they were moved or deleted. It’s tough to tell when or why without playing with it some.

If you have a friend or business nearby that is pretty handy with computers, this is probably the time to bring them in. Even if we piece together how to get Photoshop running for you, files are moved, permissions are changed, and you know you had a virus just before, so you’re going to continue to have some issues until the cause is found.

If you still want to give it a shot, your best bet would be to remove Photoshop all together, then reinstall. First you’ll need to verify your account has Admin rights using the process I listed above. Unfortunately just because you have the only account doesn’t mean it will have rights to install. There are other accounts Windows installs automatically that are hidden just in case your only account is lost for some reason.

Once your sure there, you can uninstall Photoshop by going to Start -> Control Panel -> Programs -> Uninstall a Program. Select Photoshop from the list and wait for it to finish. Restart the computer and then try your fresh install again.

I hope it works out.

Thank you for the input @funkdaddy, I have verified that my account is the administrator, and I have tried twice to uninstall and reinstall though in the hopes that I wouldn’t have to restore my brushes I had kept my settings. Could that be why it didn’t work? Because this hadn’t been a full uninstall?

As it happens my mother’s boyfriend is an IT expert and could probably figure it out. When I get the chance I will see if he could look at it.

It shouldn’t be the brushes and I’m sorry it’s causing so much trouble, I know things like this can eat time.

Just for something else to try, you can actually save the brushes and some of the other customizations just by saving a few of the directories photoshop creates. The brushes and such are files in those directory.

For me they’re located in the “presets” folder under the directory that photoshop.exe file is located, so you could just copy that folder somewhere else, do your uninstall without selecting to save your presets, and then copy it back if the new install goes smoothly.