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How to remove Adobe Gamma Windows 2000 XP Vista

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How to remove Adobe Gamma – on Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Turn off Adobe gamma on your PC before profiling.



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When you install many Adobe programs, the Adobe gamma software also gets installed on PCs.

Deactivating Adobe gamma

If you use specialist software and hardware to calibrate your monitor at the system level, you create an ICC profile that describes how your particular monitor reproduces colour.

Any application that uses ICC profiles can use this profile.

Unfortunately Adobe Gamma can interact with this in unpredictable ways.

adobe gamma

Although we only use Macs at Northlight, we get asked about this often enough that we’ve included this short guide to deactivating Adobe Gamma on your PC

Why turn off Adobe Gamma?

If you are going to calibrate your monitor, then it’s best that only one piece of software does the job for you.

Adobe gamma is a useful bit of software that gets installed that can help you set up your monitor to look better.

Remember that adjusting a monitor by eye is at best a partial solution (see our viewing guide for more info about adjustments ‘by eye’)

If you are going to use any of the popular profiling packages (by ColorVision/X-Rite/Pantone for example) on a PC then they all recommend disabling Adobe Gamma

Turning off the automatic start-up of Adobe Gamma

Adobe Gamma is usually started by a short-cut in the start-up items folder. You can just delete this and the software won’t get automatically started.

Note – If there is no short-cut there, then Adobe Gamma isn’t getting loaded, so just carry on and use your profiling package

The installer installs the Adobe Gamma control panel (Adobe Gamma.cpl) into the Windows/System folder (Windows Me and 98) or the Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Calibration (Windows XP and 2000), and it installs the Adobe Gamma loader application (Adobe Gamma Loader.exe) into the Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Calibration folder.

In addition, it installs a short-cut to the Adobe Gamma Loader application in the Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Startup folder (Windows Me and 98) or the Documents and Settings/All Users/Start Menu/Programs/Setup (Windows XP and 2000). As a result, the Adobe Gamma loader application appears in the Start > Programs > Startup menu and starts automatically during Windows startup.

While loading Adobe Gamma.cpl during Windows start-up, the Adobe Gamma Loader application applies settings in the Adobe Gamma.cpl file to the system and applies calibration settings for your monitor at the system level.

Windows 2000/XP

It’s found at Drive/Documents & Settings/All Users/Start Menu/Programs/Start Up/Adobe Gamma Loader (alias)

The easy way to get at it is:

  • right-click on the Start button
  • go to Open or Open All Users
  • double-click PROGRAMS
  • double-click STARTUP.
  • Right-click on Adobe Gamma or Adobe Gamma Loader and delete.

Your profiling software will often place a new short-cut in the startup items folder that activates your new profile

Windows Vista

Any Adobe Gamma alias is in the same place as above – just delete it

Windows Me and 98

  • Choose Start > Settings > Taskbar and Start Menu Properties (Windows Me), or choose Start > Settings > Taskbar (Windows 98).
  • Click the Advanced tab (Windows Me) or the Start Menu Programs tab (Windows 98).
  • Click Remove in the Customize Start Menu section (Windows 98), or click Remove in the Start menu section (Windows Me).
  • Double-click Programs if it isn’t expanded, and then double-click StartUp.
  • Select Adobe Gamma Loader.exe, and click Remove.
  • Click Yes if asked if you want to remove this item (Windows 98).
  • Click Close in the Remove Shortcuts/Folders dialogue box, and then Click OK in the Taskbar Properties dialogue box.

If you are curious about colour management and what it can do for you, then we have a growing collection of reviews and articles about software and hardware, and how to use it.

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More colour management and printing related information

For information about printers, paper reviews and profiling (colour management) see the Printing section of the main printers and printing page, or use the search box at the top of any page.
All colour management articles and reviews are indexed on the main Colour Management page - please do let Keith know if you've any questions, either via the comments or just email us?

Some specific articles that may be of interest:

  • Why don't my prints match my screen? A short article showing why there is more to getting your prints to match your screen, than just calibrating your monitor. It's the vital first step, but you do need to consider some other factors for best results.
  • Why are my prints too dark - some basic suggestions to this common problem.

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