How to Reinstall Photoshop

By Andrew Aarons

Reinstalling Photoshop might overcome some program deficiencies.
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Long considered the premier photo-editing and manipulation software, Adobe Photoshop is a powerful piece of software. As with any computer program, errors can occur from time to time, and sometimes the only way to fix recurring errors is to remove and reinstall the software.

Uninstall the current version of Photoshop

Click "Start," then click "Control Panel" and then click "Add/Remove Programs" (or "Installed Programs" in Windows Vista, "Programs" in Windows 7). Scroll through the list of programs and select "Adobe Photoshop," then click "Uninstall" beside the program's name. Follow the on-screen prompts.

Delete application data

You may wish to additionally remove application data from your "Documents and Settings" folder, so that when you reinstall the program your saved settings are not restored (in the event that one of these settings may be causing the program error, this step is recommended). Using Windows Explorer ("Start," then "Windows Explorer"), browse to Documents and Settings[user name]\Application Data\Adobe and delete the "Photoshop" folder.

Reinstall Photoshop

Locate your Adobe Photoshop installation CD-ROM and insert it into your computer. Be sure to have the product key handy (it should be included in the box that Photoshop came in) for the installation. Follow the on-screen prompts to have Photoshop up and running again.

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