Expert: LizaL - 11/15/2004

Question
I have PS7. It has run perfectly but I now get a pop up message saying the item I want to install is found on the Photoshop CD. Please insert etc... However I have not tried to install anything extra and this "request" pops up if PS is running or not. Even on starting the computer. It is not a virus / spyware thing as these are regularly checkred ands updated. Sorry it is so vague but thats the way this annoying problem manifests itself. Many thanks, Alan

Answer
Hi Alan,

I've seen something like this happen, and although it was on a Mac, the situation was very similar. So I'll relate what happened, and maybe we can apply it to what's happening with you.

At one point when I was teaching college, I set up and administered a networked lab of 15 iMacs. What I've seen happen is that a CD would be installed in one of the machines, and ejected using keyboard commands, rather than a formal "eject" command. For some reason, and not all the time, either, this would leave a "ghosted" image of the CD on the machine's desktop. In essence, what had happened was the the CD left sort of an invisible "footprint" on the machine, and the computer was "looking" for more information on ejecting the CD and thus close the information circle.

So having said that, it would be my guess that perhaps your installation of Photoshop is either incomplete, or incompatible with something else.

You didn't say how old your machine is, and this could also have something to do with it. When I've seen this similar problem occur, it was on older computers.

You said Photoshop has been running fine, and that might be possible, but if the original installation wasn't complete, or was interrupted in any way, or even if it was a bad installation CD -- over time your application could degenerate and cause this to occur.

What I would do if I were you is to completely uninstall Photoshop, defragment your hard drive, and reinstall Photoshop. This way you not only get a clean, good install of Photoshop, but any fragmented information will also get cleaned up.

And if this same thing happens again, I'd contact Adobe and tell them. If you're a registered, legal user of your copy of Photoshop, they will support you and possibly replace your installation CDs if they think they're bad, too.

I used to wonder if it was possible to receive bad installation CDs, and I found out several years ago that indeed it is! So this could be the problem.

Anyway, try the uninstall and the defrag. And if these measures don't help, please post back and we'll take it from there.

Lisa