Your Windows 11 PC hangs at shutdown? Adobe may be at fault

Recently, my Windows 11 PC began to choke when shutting down. A small error window would appear, holding up the process. The cause? A program called LogTransport2.exe. If you have the same problem and are also wondering what’s going on—it’s Adobe’s fault.

Adobe bundles this file with its Creative Cloud applications for the purpose of transmitting data about you back to the company. If the executable is still communicating with Adobe servers when you shut down your PC, it’ll stall the process to finish its task. So, to nip this issue in the bud, you have to tell Adobe to stop spying on you.

The fix

1. Open a web browser. Head to adobe.com, then log into your account.
2. Click on your avatar icon at the upper right.
3. Choose Manage account.
4. At the top of the screen, choose Account and Security, then Data and privacy settings.
5. Uncheck the boxes for sharing.

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If you don’t see any boxes for sharing at first, you may need to switch your profile. Click your avatar icon in the upper right. In the menu that appears, look under the Account section for a Switch profile option.

When I first logged in, I was signed into the profile associated with the organization I have my subscription through—and so only saw a message that said, “You have been automatically opted out from content analysis for product improvement when using Creative Cloud and Document Cloud apps. This setting does not apply when you separately choose to participate in product improvement programs.” Switching to my personal profile revealed the settings I needed.

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Why this change solves the issue

Stopping the telemetry data quiets LogTransport2.exe’s activity. When it stays idle, your PC can shut down without interruption.

Adobe could do much, much more to help with the problem, though. Data sharing should be opt in, rather than opt out. Given the cost of a Creative Cloud subscription, I think few people expect their desktop app usage to be spied on. When paying for a service, I don’t expect to still be the product. Nor my content stored on their servers either.

At the very least, the Creative Cloud app should give periodic reminders that the setting is turned on. And allowing changes to data sharing within the Creative Cloud app, rather than only through the Adobe website.

My colleague Mike Crider switched off Photoshop (after years of loyalty) to a far more affordable and less invasive web app (Photopea). He seems to have the right of it. These days, privacy is security. Anyone monitoring us without our knowledge is a risk.