Santa Claus wrote:
A friend has purchased Photoshop Elements 2018.  The installation process is trying to make him create an Adobe ID Account.  He doesn't want to do that.  Has anyone encountered this?  Is there a way to install it without the account?

Nope, he has to create the account to authorize the software. Adobe has been doing that for a while. Other than that, Elements is a huge bargain, it will do most of the things that we usually need Photoshop to do and there is no monthly subscription with submission of credit card data. I am still using the 2014 version of Elements and expect to use it for at least a couple more years.
I understand the reluctance to share information with companies that have huge databases, they are targets for hackers.
Facebook had 50 million accounts compromised in October.

As a not so subtle hint, google allows you to make a gmail account without any proof other than a confirmation text to a cell phone. Nodoby is required to keep their data connections open during this event.
Facebook does not even require that much information to create a fan page.
I don't know what Adobe's requirements are or to what extent they can spy on the installer's computer but... ahem...

...not that you heard anything from me!!!

Shadow Dancer wrote:
I don't know what Adobe's requirements are or to what extent they can spy on the installer's computer but... ahem...

...not that you heard anything from me!!!

As Elements loads on startup it scans through a number of processes. If I'm online one process takes slightly longer than any of the others, if I am not online Elements skips through.... I'm fairly certain it's Adobe sniffing the Comp for whatever reason,  although I could be wrong.