Hi gang!
Ok...I have a very technically savvy client who is running into an odd problem.
His PC is running Windows 10 and he's very much a cloud convert. He has subscriptions to both Office 360 and Adobe Creative Cloud.
Recently, he's running into an unusual anomaly. Apps that normally worked just fine under his regular user login are now requiring they be run as administrator. If the admin option is not used on launch they exhibit strange behaviors that range from having program features not working properly all the way up to refusals to load. And the number of apps affected seems to be growing.
The initial problem showed up with Timeslips which suddenly would only run as administrator. But the current biggest issue is with Adobe Acrobat Pro. If not invoked with admin privileges, scanning from within the app only generates solid black squares instead of normal scans. This happens with two different scanners.
Both scanners are fully functional with up to date drivers. And both work correctly with PaperPort - so it's not a hardware issue. And a complete de-install of both the scanners and Adobe software followed by clean reinstalls does not correct the problem. Nor does shutting off everything else that's running in the background help. So that likely rules out a software conflict too.
Win 10 is fully updated and checks out fine. No issues reported in the logs kept by event manager. And I don't see anything odd happening in task manager while Acrobat is launching or running.
And to anticipate the next question, multiple scans have detected no rootkits, malware or similiar baddies lurking in the background.
Adobe tech support is at a loss and is now pointing the finger at Microsoft and the two scanner manufacturers - who are pointing the finger (IMO correctly) right back at Adobe in the usual circlejerk
pas de deux we all know and love. To the scanner makers and Microsoft's credit, they did put in significant effort to see if they could figure out what's up. But they were able to spot
nada after several hours all in.
So...
I'm guessing there's a recent security update in Windows that may be causing the problem for software that's operating somewhat off the reservation Microsoft has decreed it remain on under Win 10. Aggravating the situation is the fact that the Adobe software is still 32-bit, which I know can cause permission issues for some apps.
As I said, this problem started roughly around the 25th of February for this particular person. And he hasn't done anything out of the ordinary. So I'm left to conclude whatever changed took place in the background following an update to the OS.
Has anybody seen this sort of thing happen? Or have any suggestions of where to look next? Because for once, I'm completely stumped - along with Microsoft, Brother, Adobe and Cannon apparently. I'd rather not have to go through the finger exercise of doing a complete reformat and reinstall of everything on the off chance heroics will fix the issue. So any input on how to fix this based on your your collective expertise would be greatly appreciated. Thankee!
Need help with a Win 10 security/permission issue affecting apps
