I only run their software in a Windows VM since it installs background services (AAMUpdater, AdobeGCClient) that don't go away even after uninstalling and using their cleanup tool. Not to mention the terrible cloud integration that hangs Chrome after trying to rebuild the font cache out of nowhere.
It's pretty much spyware behavior at this point. Like with certain video games DRM, Adobe software is one of those cases where the pirated version is actually better than the paid one.
I always really liked the idea of Sandboxie (https://www.sandboxie.com/) where you can run any and every application in its own sandbox, but I was never convinced that its security was as strong as it promised to be. I wish MS would implement something like this.
You do not want to run such things in an XP VM if you can help it. XP is such a hot mess security wise that flaws in it allowed attackers to break VM sandboxing more than once.
It's pretty much spyware behavior at this point. Like with certain video games DRM, Adobe software is one of those cases where the pirated version is actually better than the paid one.