I haven't used Photoshop in my Windows machine for a while. I only used it to do occasional stuff to my photos that simple photo editors cannot do.
When I opened the app, I was greeted with a banner and a dialogue box stating "this Adobe app is non-genuine and will be disabled soon". (Both were written in Japanese though the original app's language is set to English. I think it has something to do with my VPN.) I couldn't figure what the buttons said but one seems to redirect me to an Adobe subscription page and the other simply closes the app.
I don't have experience pirating stuff like this. I got help from another friend long ago in downloading the whole suite of Adobe products from what I think is a Russian source. I am pretty sure they told me to set up firewall restrictions for the app as well, and I haven't touched the installer or anything similar since then. I don't know if there is something I can do about this or if I should download an 'updated version' of the app from some other source.
I only used it to do occasional stuff to my photos that simple photo editors cannot do.
I'm aware I'm not properly answering your question here but it sounds like you might be better off ditching Adobe and using something like GIMP or Krita. I went through a period when I was struggling with my cracked version of photoshop and not getting anything done and discovered it was much more efficient and relaxing to spend a couple of hours learning GIMP.
If you'd rather use photoshop that's fair enough but I thought I'd just share my experience and offer a nudge in a different direction :)
If it makes you feel better they're super shitty to their paying customers too.
It's been a cat and mouse game with Adobe for quite a while now
Yep, Adobe software still phones home even when it's cracked. But there's supposedly a list of hosts you can block to stop this behaviour: https://a.dove.isdumb.one/list.txt
Adobe uses an exe file of Node.js to do the verification. It is situated in the Adobe installation directory. Block all outbound connections from this exe.
Same if you have an old licensed copy, like cs6 keep that stuff offline, regardless of whether or not you purchased it
