They have improved the simple "Auto" adjustments, so this rather dubious feature is redundant.
Have you tried resetting your presets--reinstalling doesn't change the presets.
<http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/11.0/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab64-7646a.html>
Robert Tansky:I deleted the preferences file in the appdata roaming adobe
folder but it's still not there, is there a different way to reset preferences?
It is in the FAQ:
<http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?14@@.ee747eb>
but to reset the settings file you press Cntl-Shift-Alt keys immediately after double clicking on the Photoshop CS4 icon to start the program. You should get a dialog box asking if you wish to delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings File.
However, to use Variations you need to be in 8-bit color mode and can't be in Lab or Indexed Color mode. If it is missing it could be because the plug-in wasn't installed for some reason. In the x64 bit version under Vista x64 it should be in the folder C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64 Bit)\Locales\en_US\Additional Plug-Ins\Win\Filters. The 32-bit version should be here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Locales\en_US\Additional Plug-Ins\Win\Filters.