Block Adobe Activation v2 + Master Collection CS5 SN/ Mac Only
FYI: This is for the Mac. Please keep WIndows discussions off his thread. Do not post serials on this thread, they are made public and will be blacklisted.
Completely rewritten, user interface guided script to keep your Adobe CS4 & CS5 installs safe.
The script is very quick and simple to run and customizable for those that want to tinker.
This torrent also includes the CS5 Master Collection serials. Just remember to install as a trial! Only enter the serial when you first run any app.
Please take the time to read the FAQ below before asking questions:
The serial doesn't work!
Did you install as a trial?
Can I have both CS4 & CS5 installed? Can I only install specific apps from the suite?
Yes and yes.
Do I need this? What if I already blocked Adobe before?
The script will reset your hosts file with the proper Adobe servers. Everyone (including people who have blocked Adobe before) stands to benefit from a clean, properly edited hosts file. If you need to preserve extra entries, you can do that too, the script is flexible.
Are there any new servers to block since CS4?
Nope, the list is the same. See the list at the bottom of this FAQ.
Hold on, your thing only covers 15 servers. I've seen lists with way more servers!
Yes there are bigger lists out there. They will prevent you from being able to get updates, use Adobe Live, get additional content or get additional help or visit Adobe community forums. These are all safe things to do and won't invalidate your serial.
But I use Little Snitch / firewall / some other app. Do I really need to patch the hosts file?
Adobe uses Flexnet to do it's dirty work under the root account so we have to add the addresses to our hosts file which will do a system wide address block permanently. Little snitch can catch other things (like loading help files) and you're free to block it, but it's nothing that would invalidate your serial.
What is this compatible with?
From CS4 onwards, Adobe uses its sneaky method to check for serials. So if you're running any CS4 or CS5 app, you need this script.
I don't trust you, let me see the code for this thing.
No problem. Just drop the app into the Applescript Editor (in your Utilities folder). You can peruse all you want, the code is pretty thoroughly commented so it's easy to understand. You can run it from the editor if you choose.
Is it safe to update my apps? Little Snitch reports outgoing connections/connecting to verisign!
Chill. You are safe. Any calls that Adobe makes is to do harmless things. All their activation servers are blocked by the script. Verisign is used to connect to Adobe Live. Block if you like, but it isn't making you safer, just preventing you from doing things.
Are you sure? What if Adobe add more activation servers?
They haven't added anything since CS4. If you want to check, follow the Apple help web page how to check to see if the URL you suspect is being used when you launch a CS5 program using the TCDUMP command with Terminal http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3994
I have a problem with my installation (missing files, configuration errors, etc)
Try the uninstaller that was left behind from previous Adobe installs in the /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Installers/ folder. If that doesn't help, try Adobe's:
CS4 Clean script | CS5 Clean script
Can I edit the hosts file the script uses? I want to add more stuff.
As long as you understand that all the necessary servers are already included, sure, just right click on the app, choose Show Package Contents and navigate to the Contents folder and double-click on the file hosts-patched.
Thanks for the script but I wanna do this manually.
Ok. Open Terminal and paste in sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit /etc/hosts (Hit return and type in your admin password).
In TextEdit add these new lines into the HOSTS file:
127.0.0.1 activate.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 practivate.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 ereg.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 activate.wip3.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 wip3.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 3dns-3.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 3dns-2.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 adobe-dns.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 adobe-dns-2.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 adobe-dns-3.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 ereg.wip3.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 activate-sea.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 wwis-dubc1-vip60.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 activate-sjc0.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 hl2rcv.adobe.com
and save it. Open Terminal again and paste in sudo dscacheutil -flushcache (Hit return and type in your admin password, if asked again).
