Are you sure no one has messed with the clock on the PC? This is the normal reason for this happening. Even setting the clock back temporarily will do it.
There is no real solution (unless you want to reformat your hard drive).
Given the similarity of this to a few other messages that have surfaced recently, I wonder if the problem is that the trial version is designed to expire a certain time period after the retail release of Photoshop CS has been issued? I seem to recall that beta releases have such a timeout, for obvious reasons, but I’d not really expect that of trialware since the whole purpose is to entice the user into buying the retail product. At worst, trialware expiration should be based upon the initial date it was first installed.
I know that’s no answer…just speculation as to a possible cause.
Daryl
Well, it is a lot more than 30 days after the trial was released, and this is the first user who has not mentioned changing the clock.
Hopefully Chris Cox will see the thread and be able to confirm this is not a cause. (If they all expired on a certain date, I suspect we would see dozens of queries, not just a few.)
Chris was pretty specific the other day in pointing out that the only reason the trial would expire prematurely would be someone manually changing the system clock.
Bob
Seems to me there should be some sort of alert message window at the VERY beginning of the demo install process, with warnings about the things that might cause a premature expiration.
Why would anyone manually change the system clock? I can’t think of one good reason to do it except to try and beat a trial.
Bob
im not trying to beat the CS trial with changing my system clock…just trying to get back my trial period….
all in all….CS sucks…im going back to PS7
" Why would anyone manually change the system clock? I can’t think of one good reason to do it except to try and beat a trial. "
Myopic viewpoint, Bob, though I generally agree. But, there ARE some possibilities where this might happen.
Ever had your system battery die on you and find your clock reset to 1904, or some other odd date? It could happen in the middle of a demo, and then you’re drilled. Reformat and try the demo again? That would suck.
Which is why asked. That’s one good reason but honestly, how often does that happen? I’ve gone through an awful lot of computers and NEVER had it happen.
Bob
Well, it’s happened to me, right in the middle of the day when I rebooted after coming back from lunch break one day. It’s what forced me to educate myself about how to replace those batteries.
So the statistics are not nebulous and indefinable. Just because it hasn’t happened to you, doesn’t mean it’s not a possibility.
That’s what I meant about being careful not to be too myopic.
Again, which is why I asked. I’m not myopic enough to think that just because I can’t come up with a reason that the reason doesn’t exist.
Bob
hmmm. maybe my sister was screwing with my clock or something then, because she’s the only other person who’s used my computer since i’ve downloaded the program.
even if she had, the date is back to it’s normal time, shouldn’t the program be working fine now? maybe not. there’s probably bugs in the program to work against things like setting the date back. oh well. thanks 🙂
That would not be a bug. It would be a security measure.
Bob
yes. i know. that’s what i was talking about.
This is just speculation, but what about daylight savings time changes? Depending on which time zone you live in, changing your clock either forward or backward one hour twice a year is pretty much necessary. 🙂 I wonder if they took that into account with the trial version. Of course that probably wouldn’t apply in this case since the install date would have been after any time change (if that even applies to the original poster).
The time change should be automatic for anyone using WinXP or Win2K. It’s the default setting and again, I can’t think of any reason to turn it off.
Bob
The time change should be automatic for anyone using WinXP or Win2K. It’s the default setting and again, I can’t think of any reason to turn it off.
I agree that it is beneficial to allow Windows to automatically adjust for daylight savings time changes. I just hadn’t heard anyone come out and say that if Windows automatically adjusts the time it is okay, but if the user adjusts the time it is not okay. I was simply pointing out that depending where you live, it can be very legitimate to change your clock twice a year, whether automatically or manually. Incidentally, another way the clock can get adjusted is with software that synchronizes your computer clock to a time standard such as the atomic clock over the Internet or to a server on the network. This can be either built into the OS or a 3rd party utility. If the OS and/or trial software is smart enough to recognize legitimate changes like that, then that’s great. It is just interesting that as software gets more complex and sophisticated it seems that issues like this sometimes pop up as side-effects.
Chris Cox has already said in this thread, or another, that changes due to DST will not cause the trial to expire. So the answer is "yes" the Adobe engineers did consider this.
I have a "problem" with my system clock losing time. I am regularly resetting it. I could change the battery, but it’s not generally a priority for me. I only bring this up to point out that there *are* folks who *do* have to deal with their clocks!
grasshopper
It’s not the battery. There’s either enough voltage or there isn’t.
Some mobo’s just worse than others re accuracy.
Mac
Here’s a confounding thing that I’ve talked to all sorts of engineering people about:
As amazingly blazingly magnificent as our computers are, the little chip (or enshrikiated circuit derived therefrom 😉 ) that regulates our system clocks have been virtually unchanged for decades.
Yes you can run a freaking spaceship out to orbit Uranus, but your system clock has trouble keeping accurate time.
And, if you pay attention: Many, if not most, digital clocks GAIN time, rather than lose it. It runs counter to most pedestrian logic, but it’s true.
I think it’s incredibly stupid, and it’s bothered me for 20 years or more.
OK. Maybe I’m wrong. I’ve been out of the circuit biz for a long time.
Engineers? Are a lot of computer’s system clocks still running on the old 555, or an only-slightly-less crappy variant of the 555 circuit?
GH,
What O/S are you running? I’ve seen this on some older Win 98 machines but never on Win2K or especially WinXP which defaults to auto updates via the internet.
Bob
Bob,
Yes, I am running an older machine and it does have Win98SE. I am one who doesn’t like too many background processes running and I am unsure whether or not I would like to have the OS constantly looking for either updates to the OS or updating the clock without my express knowledge.
With Win98 I wouldn’t want too much running in the background either.
Bob
I have the same problem as Grasshopper has with my system clock also losing time, so I reset mine regularly too.
Mine is running Win XP
Kathi
Let XP handle the updates. Just double click the clock, choose the internet time tab and check the automatically synchronize with an Internet tiem server.
If you’re not on broadband, then just click the update now button.
Bob
Yes, I am running an older machine and it does have Win98SE.
cs won’t run on win98. not sure about the trial, but the full version won’t even install.
ust double click the clock, choose the internet time tab and check the automatically synchronize with an Internet tiem server.
you learn something new every day. thanks bob!
you learn something new every day.
Like how to spell TIME. 🙂
Bob
<Timmy from South Park>TIMMAAAAAY!</Timmy>
cs won’t run on win98. not sure about the trial, but the full version won’t even install. Understood! 🙂
I was only commenting about my clock, not about CS timing out. Although, I did cause PS Elements trial to time out by resetting my clock … (three dots!)
gh
Bob wrote: double click the clock, choose the
internet time tab
Wow Bob, I didn’t know about that. Thanks!
Kathi, there’s a dropdown list in that internet time tab for the time server. I always use the NIST server instead of the Microsoft server. I know that the NIST atomic clock is accurate, but I’m never sure about Microsoft accuracy! <vbg>
Me too, that is why I used NIST last night!
