BY BLOODY GOD, installing it on another computer and copying the files back over worked. At least with Photoshop, which is the only program from the CS4 package I have tried so far.

So what this means is that one computer in a person's household must be used as a sacrifice to appease the Adobe gods, accepting an installation that will likely leave little bits in the cracks and crevices of the computer's innocent mind.

Perhaps I'm being overly dramatic...

Anyway, allow me to buy you all a beer and propose a toast to overcoming needless obstacles in computing. Oh and to logicearth's quiet genius as well.

Thank you!