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New: Kanri (Oct 9, '24), Platform 29.5.3 (Jun 27, '24)
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Delete seems to be broken in the Associations window in 2.2.1.7. Nothing happens when I click the Delete button.
I looked and indeed the delete button doesn't work.
next update?
Thanks, fixed. I'll upload the new version soon.
See first post for details.
Being the pedant I am, I have to point out that PFA currently violates the PAF spec: "Portability" is not a valid category. The PAF 1.0 spec has this to say about it:
IMHO, it fits into the category of "Utilities".
lol good find but I think beta testing is for testing for bugs and not simple mistakes
but your right, it has to be in utilities
I just discovered the hotkey feature, works great
but you have to restart file associater to let the new menu be updated.
also, can you make an option to close file associater when pa menu closes :)?
I can't find the post right now, but John has mentioned that this functionality is coming, possibly in Beta 4.
1) See the readme and the tray menu for 'Refresh new items menu'
2) PFA does not integrate with the platform in that manner, and I've seen no documentation on integrating apps with the platform for things like that. If the platform ever integrates some kind of app closure system, it would most likely be a 'force close' type of situation, which is bad for all apps, and especially so for PFA. PFA would not have the opportunity to clean up and remove its changes in this situation. The only way it could work is if the platform allowed you to run commands when closing, at which point you could run PFA with the 'exit' command line argument which would properly close the running instance of the app, or run PFA with the 'remove' argument which would remove its settings and exit.
Start rant...
I'll be honest here... PA.c has no interest in officially supporting this software because of its AutoIt nature. This has been discussed to death and is still a sore point with me. I'm one of the few devs on this site that writes original software, and I feel as if I'm shunned because of my choice of language. If PA.c is not going to support my software, then I'm not going to go out of my way to conform to or deeply integrate into the platform if it will sacrifice other users' ability to run the software without the platform. So when requests come along like that it makes that vein in my forehead start to pulse. I will always do my best to make my software as universally usable and supported as possible, but make no mistake, I'm not a slave to PA.c or its format. I'll follow it as much as it makes sense and it allows me distribute my software in an easily installable package.
...end rant.
1) stupid of me, didn't saw it
2) I really didn't knew there were persons so evil against it?
what can go wrong? But I was talking about a simple thread running a loop and sleeping for about two seconds and do a fast check if portable apps platform is still running. it wouldn't take much memory.
AutoIt (as well as AHK) is single threaded :/
Can't you do it on your end? Ending PFA when the PA.c Platform closes? Just watch for PortableAppsPlatform.exe to stop, and then quit. Obviously this should not be the default behavior, and should be available as an option.
Sorry, per rant above, I'm not building PA.c specific functionality into an application that is designed to be used by anyone. It doesn't make sense. There is also no spec for this kind of interaction with the platform.
Besides, that's a terrible solution to that 'problem' since PFA doesn't even have to be running to do its job. If you run 'PortableFileAssociator.exe add', then PFA adds the registry entries and exits. What then?
The solution is to have platform specific commands be run when the platform closes. Of if you wish, write a simple launcher that mimics this... wait for the platform to close and then run your commands. For PFA, you would first check if it was running. If yes, run 'PortableFileAssociator.exe exit' to close the app (entries will only be removed if you have set the option to 'remove on close'; otherwise you'll have to run two commands, 'exit' then 'remove'). If no, run 'PortableFileAssociator.exe remove' to remove the entries.
OR, there needs to be a universal solution implemented by the platform, such as sending a custom window message to all windows upon platform closing. This is something that could more easily be monitored by an application. However that still requires that the application has a window to receive messages; console applications and applications without windows would be out of luck.
I understand your point and don't understand the trouble about autoit but I hope you also see my point of vieuw.
with the little vbs knowledge I have I tried to create a script and it does the job but as i mostly program java and don't know mutch about vbs it probably is writen in a bad maner.
use it at your own risk
Dim ws
Set ws = WScript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
ws.Run("PortableFileAssociator.exe" & " " & "add_gui")
set service = GetObject ("winmgmts:")
dim paRunning
paRunning=true
do
WScript.Sleep 2000
paRunning=false
for each Process in Service.InstancesOf ("Win32_Process")
If Process.Name = "PortableAppsPlatform.exe" then
paRunning=true
End If
next
loop until parunning = false
ws.Run("PortableFileAssociator.exe" & " " & "exit")
Set ws = Nothing
change appinfo.ini so it runs the vbs and not the exe file
Yep, that's the idea. Better than a launcher for PFA would be a general program that gets launched with the platform, waits for it to close, then performs whatever commands / cleanup you want. This way you could use it for anything, not just PFA.
thanks
I would still fix the category though, in case future versions of the Platform decide to start refusing to display apps with invalid categories. While I admit this is unlikely, I wouldn't want to take the chance, however slim, of screwing over PA.c users just because you're angry with JTH.
The category is also changed to Utilities in the repackage of this release. I'll up the version on the next release where I add new stuff.
try AutoClose. I don't know if you use a different menu, but I included support for that. No posts, so either no body wants it, or it works fine
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world
Yeah, that would be perfect for what they were talking about.
Inspired by the portable fonts program
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world
i discovered something really strange:
when portable file associater is running assaultcube doesn't launch ????
closing portable file associater solves the problem
can anyone please explain how this is possible?
AssaultCube launcher must be checking for the existence of a weird window title or mutex or something maybe? I'll take a look at the AC launcher later if I get a chance.
the problem is in the launcher I am 100% sure because it will start if you run the batch file (but then it saves settings in the reg)
I mean, really, really, nice piece of code.
I was just preparing my AutoIt environment to start coding an application with the exact same idea, and then, in the middle of the night I woke up just to stumble upon this.
Yes sir, wraithdu, you rock! You did it exactly how I was imaging it, and even beyond that. I tested it right away and it works like a charm. Brilliant.
If you would like any help from me, just let me know. I can help you with suggestions, coding, graphics, icons, images, building documentation, web hosting... you name it.
And don't worry about the PA.c, no one really uses that anyway. It is ugly, rigid, slow, buggy, featureless and just plain badly done. I personally use PStart in combination with RocketDock and it's awesome. I really, really don't know anyone that uses PortableApps menu. And it is called v2.0 but to me it looks more like v0.6. And I'm too strongly offended by their anti-AutoIt stand, as AutoIt always worked flawlessly for me and for thousands of other people who are using it.
Anyway, I'm so happy about this PortableFileAssociator, and I offer my help in any way you seem fit.
I'm very happy you like it and it works for you. I have the same kind of feelings as you about PA.c's stance on AutoIt apps, but I can see their view *to a point*. I've argued my side as much as it's worth it.
That said, I'm not bashing the platform itself. It's responsible for a lot of good things in the portable community and has brought a lot of visibility to the portable 'movement'. Inherently it's a good thing I think. All large undertakings like PA.c will go through growing pains, and decisions made for the greater good will not please everyone.
Eh, it's a discussion for another time and another place.
Enjoy PFA!!
Whoa! Now I'm confused.
This application Xenon File Manager Portable is officially included in the PortableApps collection, but it clearly states here that it is made using AutoIt.
Huh?
yeah, and elsewhere john has said it won't happen anymore. Which is dumb, but we really can't argue with him
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world
It's not dumb. A huge chunk of antivirus and antispyware apps flag all AutoIT-based EXEs as bad. And, since all AutoIT EXEs are just the same EXE (the main AutoIT one with the script slapped on the end) everything made with AutoIT winds up looking bad. I'm not arguing that it's a bad tool (it's pretty damned cool) but the fact is that a lot of malware is made with it. And because it's all the same EXE, it means a lot of false positives, often with no resolution and submissions of files to white list falling on deaf ears.
There's no way for us to fix this. And no workaround. If all the antivirus vendors work on a way around it... or if AutoIT can become an actual compiled language (in which case the EXEs will be different), then we can start using it.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
OK, all AutoIt's 'compiled' EXEs look identical to antivirus heuristics. Therefore, all are marked as bad even if only one of them somewhere, sometime did something bad.
So, we need a method to make them look 'unique'.
Will look in to it.
Cheers!
As PortableFileAssociator already handles Associations, File Types and Send To, why not use it to handle Places Bar in windows's File Open/Save dialogs?
Just like TweakUI does it.
Same principle as before: when launched, do a backup of already existing Places Bar configuration in some ini file, then, set the Places Bar config to user's liking (obeying profiles), and then when closing, restore Places Bar as it was.
Nifty.
I kept seeing PFA popup in the beta forum, but I never felt I needed it. Today I thought I would give it a try and associate all my mp3's on my portable drive with Portable AIMP2, and I have to say I am really impressed. Although I found the interface a little confusing (not overwhelmingly so), the included help file is well laid out and very informative. After 10 minutes I had a number of associations setup and working beautifully.
I am looking forward to using this more and getting my portable drive setup exactly how I want.
This is the missing utility that I never knew I was missing!!!
Thank you for all the work you have put into this app!!
It amazes me that on the internet you can be anything you want, and yet so many people still choose to be idiots.
Thank you!
I've gotten a bit tired of doing some repetitive tasks that SendTo could easily do, so I figured I'd try PFA out. Please interpret this as constructive criticism; although I may come off as a bit harsh in some places, I'd really like to see this succeed.
* The interface is somewhat-confusing; it took me ~20 minutes to figure out what the difference between Associations and File Types. The documentation is also somewhat unclear on that.
* IMHO, requiring at least one association to be present at all times is a little frustrating; I'd really like to be able to "start clean". Having a "new association" button would take care of this.
* When an association's being edited, changing the association name saves a separate entry instead of updating the first. IMHO, that's a bit counter-intuitive. Could you make it so editing an association entry will update that entry instead of creating a new one?
* I'd love to be able to disable the "Are you sure you want to overwrite this section?" messages that always show up when I edit an association and save it
* For most filetypes (e.g. zip, txt), I want a custom association but the host icon; currently, there's no way to do that. Could you please add that?
* I know you can't get PFA officially accepted because it's written in AutoIt; would you like me to port it to REALbasic so you can get it accepted? (Of course, I'd just do a straight port - not a big deal - and you'd get full credit for it. Also, FYI, I can't do a port in the near future - my plate is already overflowing, and I'll be leaving again on Monday - but I can do it early this summer.)
Thanks for a great app!
"The question I would like to know, is the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. All we know about it is that the Answer is Forty-two, which is a little aggravating."
Ok, something weird just happened, I have this setup :
Docx File Association is disabled
Xlsx File Association is disabled
in File Types, I have set it to :
[docx]
icon=.\Data\Icons\richtext.ico
hide=4
copyhost=1
hostoverride=4
default=Rich Text Word
and
[xlsx]
icon=.\Data\Icons\spreadsheet.ico
hide=4
copyhost=1
hostoverride=4
default=SpreadSheet Excel
So this is supposed to :
Open the File in the windows default app and ignore the portable one, BUT, use the icons I set for it.
This actually works fine in word, but in excel 2007 on windows 7 32Bit, it opens the file but adding a number at the end of the file name, like if i open xx.xlsx the filename displayed in excel is xx1.xlsx, and when I save, it takes it as a completely new file I just filled out.
Any ideas on this ? I'm sure it's an excel thingy because word actually doesn't rename the file and sees it in the proper directory instead of a temp directory i guess.
cheers !
best damn portable app i cant live without
Is this a "competitor" to Expresso, or is this the new way forward for PortableAppers?
PFA and Expresso do very similar things, but use different code.
The PortableApps menu is going to have File Associations built in to it, but I don't know which app it is modeled after.
These apps won't be obsolete, because there are still people that use other menus than the PAM.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
Like me, you mean?
So that begs the question of are there good reasons to use one over the other, or is it purely a matter of taste? I tried PFA and it didn't play nicely with AVG at all (false positive and couldn't get the app to run).
It will be modeled after this app.
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world
not that that's bad...
How do you know?
BTW never tried this PFA, but eXpresso definitely gets the job done.
It's been stated that it'll do a "proper" job of registering types rather than the eXpresso "catch it" way which is more complex and still has issues (though it's a great concept).
I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
First of all, I must say that I've been using PFA for a very long time now (don't even remember how long) and i *honestly* don't know what I would do without it! My entire work now is done on a 100% portable fashion, and a big thanks for PFA!
There seems to be a problem, though, with Java apps. I can't launch files from inside those Java apps (I am on Win7 64-bit). One one program, i get the usual windows dialog "Windows can't open this file" (it doesn't recognize it as a known extension) and on the other app (PersonalBrain) when I double-click on a file, nothing happens. No errors, no dialogs, nothing. When I quit PFA, then the files open according to the host-system associations.
Is this because of Java? Or could this be something related to 64-bit? It really boggles my mind. Does Win7 64-bit handle associations differently (or separately) for Java 32-bit vs. 64-bit apps?
Anyone else seen this?
TIA
-ilias.
When playing around with this program I've ran into a bug.
As I tried to set up a system restore via the prog interface this error message pops up every time:
http://img207.imageshack.us/i/autoiterror.jpg/
at that point the program freezes and doesn't respond any more and I have to kill it
manually.
Long time... I know.
So I'm curious if anyone has used PFA extensively on Win7 x64? Other than the above System Restore error and the Java problem (which I don't entirely understand what he's trying to say), how is it working on x64? Problems, oddities, issues?
I've been running x64 exclusively for quite some time now (except for the few PCs that don't support it), and PFA works just fine in my experience.
Honestly, the only issue I've had, and I think this happens under x86 as well, is that sometimes, for no known reason, PFA screws up and forgets to remove its associations. Once that happens there's no easy way to get the old ones back other than manually going through the Windows association UI and resetting them one-by-one. This alone actually forced me to remove PFA from my nephew's PortableApps setup in favor of eXpresso, since he kept unwittingly screwing up the local associations on the family desktop.
Any idea what's causing this?
I've never had that happen, so I don't have any ideas. Any more information you can provide about when this occurs? During shutdown, when just closing PFA, or when actually pressing the 'Remove' button? Anything might be helpful.
I haven't found a pattern, but I suspect it might be connected to shutting down Windows while PFA is running. It doesn't happen all the time even then, but every time it's happened it's been after a shutdown. What I don't get is that once it happens, there's no way to revert the associations. Doesn't PFA keep info in the registry about the original state so that it can restore local associations even after a crash/other unexpected termination?
Anyway, my guess is that PFA isn't stopping the shutdown when it happens and is just trying to clean up as quickly as possible, but sometimes it doesn't make it in time. There should be a way to intercept the shutdown request though, and delay it (NOT cancel it) while you perform cleanup. I know other apps do it--Inno Setup for example will delay shutdown during an installation and even add a message to the "waiting for these programs to close" screen to tell you why the process didn't quit. I haven't used the Windows API in so long though that I don't know how to do it...
PFA does register the shutdown message so that it can delay shutdown while it cleans up. When I coded and tested that, it always worked for me. PFA does keep backup info in the registry, but it also keeps a local settings file with the applications state (enabled or disabled). It's not supposed to happen, but it's possible that the user registry hives are unmounted before PFA can revert its changes, but it records the disabled state in the settings file. As I said though, I tested this functionality and it worked when I was developing it.
Even though it's random, does this always happen to a specific OS? Or does it occur on, say, XP and Win 7?
windows 7 prof 64bit german randomly
with 2.2.1.8 Development Test 1 (2010-01-09)
I haven't used XP in so long that I honestly couldn't tell you. Very few XP machines in the wild can't run Windows 7 and anything that runs Vista runs faster under W7, so I tend to install 7 on any machine I encounter. My cousin's old Gateway machine does have XP on it, but I don't think I've ever used PFA there.
So yeah, only tested on W7, but I've had it happen on multiple machines already, and unless I'm mistaken, under both x86 and x64.
Well, we can all agree that it works properly most of the time.
I've gone over the code again and it properly registers to receive the WM_ENDSESSION message. When that happens, PFA will clean up and close before continuing to allow shutdown to occur. That's what is supposed to happen anyway.
When you've encountered this bug, are you sure PFA was actually running? There is a commandline and INI setting that will start PFA, add the associations, then exit PFA. PFA can't catch shutdown if the app is not running.
If you're sure PFA is running when you initiate shutdown, are there any Event Log entries about PFA crashing? In what state is PFA GUI when you restart the computer and launch PFA again (active or not)? What is the 'state=' value in your <profile>_state.ini file?
i checked the logs ... no traces
i don't use pa menu anymore. i replaced it by ps menu where pfa is in autostart and runs clean as usual after booting
Does PS (?) menu have a feature where it closes programs that it autostarts when it closes? Meaning, if Notepad is in PS's autostart, when you close PS, will it also close Notepad?
Does anyone else with this bug use a 3rd party menu, some kind of autostart app, or some kind of autoclose app? Does this bug still happen if PFA is set to remove its associations automatically when it closes (regardless of shutdown)?
On the homepage of PS Menu (http://www.aignes.com/psmenu.htm) the close function is included.
Well that's your answer right there then (at least to your problem). PS Menu is set to automatically close applications that it has launched when itself is closed. There is no order to when applications/windows receive the WM_ENDSESSION message, so clearly when shutting down, PS Menu is closing BEFORE PFA receives the WM_ENDSESSION message. At that point, unless PFA is set to automatically remove associations on exit (it's a preference), PS Menu closes PFA before PFA gets the message that the system is shutting down (which would normally trigger the removal of associations regardless of the 'remove on close' setting). Also to consider, if PS Menu FORCEFULLY closes PFA, then PFA will never have a chance to cleanup properly.
Yeah, I don't use PS Menu, but the official Platform. I do have AutoClose (https://portableapps.com/node/20900) installed, though, and set up to pass the exit switch to PortableFileAssociator.exe when the Platform quits. Hm, you know what? I wonder if the use of the exit switch is conflicting with the WM_ENDSESSION process...?
@Bruce
Well, that's a thought. What's your setup?
- Is PFA set to remove associations automatically on exit?
- Does it always work properly if you just exit the Platform and do not shutdown the computer?
- Are you sure that the Platform and AutoClose behave properly under shutdown conditions?
- Does AutoClose have any forced termination modes, and under what circumstances are they triggered?
I'm not sure what would happen if PFA gets an exit message from AutoClose and a shutdown message from the system. Both work via windows messages, but I have no way to tell at what point (or if) the function would be interrupted by the other message. Each message ends with the app exiting, so if the function gets interrupted and the app exits, it could be left in an inconsistent state.
I'm a huge fan of NOT shutting down the system while portable applications are running. It's too much to expect all app developers to properly implement a system shutdown routine. And you can't build it into the Platform, cause there's no way to guarantee in what order apps receive WM_ENDSESSION.
No. No forced termination modes. Only works for programs that have a /exit switch or something similar. Mostly your apps
Autoclose watches for someone to close the platform (or another platform app if desired). Then runs a program. If that program has an exit switch, then autoclose can be used to trigger /exit on the program.
I'm amazed (and honored I think) that people still use autoclose
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world
Yes, PFA is set to remove associations on close. And all the other relevant points about AutoClose OliverK already mentioned above. Essentially all AutoClose is doing is passing the /exit switch to PFA. But like I said, I suspect the /exit switch combined with WM_ENDSESSION is what's causing the problem.
I agree, and under normal circumstances I always close the platform before shutting down (since I prefer to remove my flash drive first), however after installing programs or Windows updates that require a reboot, sometimes I just click Restart without thinking about it.
@OliverK
Yeah, AutoClose solves a fundamental issue that honestly should be built into the Platform. So until it is, I'll continue to use AutoClose.
Wait, are you literally passing the switch '/exit' ? Or was that a typo... because the correct switch is literally 'exit' without the slash.
Yeah, that slash was a typo. I'm used to putting it in when discussing command-line switches, but when I set up AutoClose I used the correct syntax. I'd definitely know if I didn't, since then PFA wouldn't close and the Platform's Eject button wouldn't work.
According to VirusTotal results this is decidedly dodgy -
Antivirus Version Last Update Result
AhnLab-V3 2011.02.06.00 2011.02.06 -
AntiVir 7.11.2.80 2011.02.04 TR/Refroso.bmmv
Antiy-AVL 2.0.3.7 2011.01.28 Trojan/Win32.Refroso.gen
Avast 4.8.1351.0 2011.02.06 -
Avast5 5.0.677.0 2011.02.06 -
AVG 10.0.0.1190 2011.02.06 Generic2_c.CCCM
BitDefender 7.2 2011.02.06 -
CAT-QuickHeal 11.00 2011.02.06 Trojan.Refroso.bmmv
ClamAV 0.96.4.0 2011.02.06 -
Commtouch 5.2.11.5 2011.02.05 W32/MalwareF.LEUR
Comodo 7599 2011.02.06 UnclassifiedMalware
DrWeb 5.0.2.03300 2011.02.06 -
Emsisoft 5.1.0.2 2011.02.06 Trojan.Win32.Refroso!IK
eSafe 7.0.17.0 2011.02.03 -
eTrust-Vet 36.1.8141 2011.02.04 -
F-Prot 4.6.2.117 2011.02.04 W32/MalwareF.LEUR
F-Secure 9.0.16160.0 2011.02.06 -
Fortinet 4.2.254.0 2011.02.06 -
GData 21 2011.02.06 -
Ikarus T3.1.1.97.0 2011.02.06 Trojan.Win32.Refroso
Jiangmin 13.0.900 2011.02.05 Trojan/Refroso.mrf
K7AntiVirus 9.81.3761 2011.02.06 Riskware
Kaspersky 7.0.0.125 2011.02.06 Trojan.Win32.Refroso.bmmv
McAfee 5.400.0.1158 2011.02.06 Artemis!3285396466F0
McAfee-GW-Edition 2010.1C 2011.02.06 Heuristic.BehavesLike.Win32.Packed.A
Microsoft 1.6502 2011.02.06 -
NOD32 5850 2011.02.06 -
Norman 6.07.03 2011.02.05 W32/Suspicious_Gen2.DSOTV
nProtect 2011-01-27.01 2011.02.02 Trojan/W32.Refroso_Packed.359909
Panda 10.0.3.5 2011.02.05 Trj/CI.A
PCTools 7.0.3.5 2011.02.06 Trojan.ADH
Prevx 3.0 2011.02.06 -
Rising 23.43.05.09 2011.02.06 -
Sophos 4.61.0 2011.02.05 -
SUPERAntiSpyware 4.40.0.1006 2011.02.05 -
Symantec 20101.3.0.103 2011.02.06 Trojan.ADH
TheHacker 6.7.0.1.124 2011.02.04 Trojan/Refroso.bmmv
TrendMicro 9.200.0.1012 2011.02.06 TROJ_GEN.R4FC3JK
TrendMicro-HouseCall 9.200.0.1012 2011.02.06 TROJ_GEN.R4FC3JK
VBA32 3.12.14.3 2011.02.04 Trojan.Win32.Swisyn.acvo
VIPRE 8326 2011.02.06 Trojan.Win32.Generic!BT
ViRobot 2011.2.5.4294 2011.02.06 -
VirusBuster 13.6.184.0 2011.02.05 -
Live for an ideal and leave no place in the mind for anything else.
as this is an in-house created app by wraithdu, I am fairly certain that these are all false positives.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
You'll have to take my word for it, AVs like to pick on AutoIt and packed apps. The AVs I trust at the moment, NOD32 and Microsoft, don't flag it. Do what you want though, no skin off my back.
I've noticed Avast does a really good job of not flagging random crap all the time.
Release Team Member
I know it's an in house dev and that it probably isn't a virus, the point is that how can this be used portably if on every pc it's to be used on has to have an entry added to the anti virus exceptions list! You shouldn't have to do that.
Live for an ideal and leave no place in the mind for anything else.
My unfortunate answer to that is to complain to your AV vendors about the false positives and follow their guidelines about submitting false positive samples so the detection is fixed in their next definitions release.
A closer look at the names of the (presumably false) alarms gives a hint that they rely on heuristics for that result. No way to do anything against it but to report that to the Antivir developers so they would hopefully fix their mistaking databases.
It's quite a nuisance that many antivir engines flag files they can not examine correctly but consider somehow suspicious as a threat. Which get blocked at best but get deleted at worst.
If I had reacted as some overzealous security app suggested the last 20 years I would have rendered many useful programs useless by deleting essential files... I for one have mixed feelings for some security solutions which sometimes tend to turn out more harmful than a possible threat, at least if let loose automatically... I loathe Stinger for that. :evil:
sorry for my gibberish but I just read too many discussions about false positives the last months...
-edit-
overlapping post with wraithdu
So you think the end user should sort that out?
I might not be a programmer, but I do know that if I wrote a program I would accept that it's my responsibility to make sure it works without any kind of hindrance.
I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, I'm not having a dig at the dev, just pointing out that if half the virus detection programs out there think this a virus, then the dev should be the one to get the anti virus programmers to add it to their ignore list or whatever it is they do, not the end user.
I'm sure John wouldn't release the next version of the PA Menu like that and simply say "it's your problem now, I've done my bit, you deal with it!" As that's basically what's being said, indirectly, and perhaps a bit nicer.
I like this program and would like to see it sorted. Good luck to the dev, hope you don't mind my criticism too much
Live for an ideal and leave no place in the mind for anything else.
Good point.
But as it is provided for free by a programmer in his spare time (no company involved...) to the community here as solution for an often requestet problem it's up to him to do that or not. It's kind of take it or leave it, live with the alarms or if they matter to you, do something against it (and if it means to ask the dev to do it by himself).
This community lives a little bit of participating, too. Sometimes I get the impression that it's taken as a kind of free self-service store where one even complains if the exhibits don't match one's expectations.
It's questionable if the problem lies in the app or in the definitions/heuristics of the virus detection programs and who has to care for a solution... (I think my point of view became clear
).
I have false alarms for some apps that I put on my exclusion list as they seem to stay in the virus definitions forever (angry ip scanner for instance).
For 100% Free sofware (such as this) it's not the Developer's responsibility to ensure lack of problems.
It is the Dev's responsibility to offer a program that does not harm the users system.
And it is appreciated if the Dev responds to help with any problems that crop up.
However it is the AntiVirus Software Vendor's responsibility to not detect programs that are not viruses, and it is the AntiVirus Software User's responsibility to send the AntiVirus Software Vendor's information regarding possible (or known) false positives (that's what the users pay for right?).
Therefore You should submit it to whatever AntiVirus Software Vendor You use and tell them that it's a false positive. (or just deal with it claiming that it might be a virus, your choice)
In case this post looks like a "TL;DR" kind of post, I'll sum up with "i believe it is YOUR responsibility to report false positives to YOUR AV vendor."
~3D1T0R
So if this conflicted with another program then it would get sorted but because it's an ant-virus program it's ok to leave it and say well let the end user sort that problem out?!
Ok, if you think that's the right thing to do. Personally I don't and wouldn't release something that had problems of any kind without accepting responsibility for it. Someone else posted a similar thing about responsibility regarding release dates for the menu not being kept. Seems to be quite a common thing these days!
I apologise for my comment if taken offensively, as I said before I'm not attacking the dev but I beleive it's their responsibility to sort this out. I have tried to send the file to AVG around a year ago and nothing came of it as it's still being flagged as malware. I also tried again around a month ago but couldn't as I was told I'd already posted this file as a false alarm. I can do nothing about it except keep adding it to my excluded list! But what if I don't have admin rights? then this program can't be used!!!
If AVG aren't listening to me about this false alarm how many others also ignore these messages about false positives?
Live for an ideal and leave no place in the mind for anything else.
I understand and respect your point of view even if I totally disagree.
In this case it's clearly not a conflict with another program whereby it would be a subject for debate if a hobbyist programmer should or should not take care of every eventual incompatibility that his freely ceded program may run into.
It could legitimately be declared as defect in various antivirus detection mechanisms if an obvious unharmful program is falsely flagged as malware. Guess who I think should fix that.
Just a (lousy) analogy:
Applications written in AutoIt, even if harmless, are often flagged as malware just because some virus writers use it sometimes.
Consider you are accused of a crime just because you own a cooking-knife that is sometimes used by someone as a weapon... Would you take into account not to cook with knives anymore to avoid beeing accused?
I don't know if AutoIt is used in this app but the basics are the same
I think that has gone too far off topic now, so I better opt out...
Thanks for your comments and I see your point, I was wrong. I didn't understand about how the actual programming worked so I retract what I said and have changed my opinion.
Nice analogy by the way
Live for an ideal and leave no place in the mind for anything else.
@sl23
Yes, the app is written in AutoIt. And I take offense that you consider some AV's treatment of my app a "problem". And no, I'm not rewriting it in another language. And there is no way I'm trying to keep up with 50 different AV vendors who use cheap heuristics.
I'm not going to apologise again. I've already done that. It was only my opinion and I did state on two occasions that I wasn't having a go.
If you don't like criticism don't post any of your programs! You know those people on X-Factor who can't sing and when told they're rubbish they get angry and aggressive...
Chill out, it is only my opinion. And I stick by it, though as I said above I'm wrong in this case due to a misunderstanding on my part. Fact is I won't criticise someone for something I can't do and I haven't done that.
By the way I'm not saying your rubbish, so don't even go there! Actually, I'm quite impressed by your program, is it to become part of the Platform?
Live for an ideal and leave no place in the mind for anything else.
No apology needed. If I sounded harsh or like I don't appreciate criticism, it was unintended. Look at it from my point of view, and you can see how the length of this particular discussion can be... irritating.
And no, due to the false positives and such, AutoIt based apps are no longer allowed to become part of the platform. Another of my apps, EraserDrop, was the last AutoIt based app that made it in.
Go here to report:
https://submit.symantec.com/false_positive/standard/
Nice.
I wonder if the forum should have a sticky somewhere with these links for as many AV vendors as possible? It would definitely make the process easier for users to submit samples.
"In light of further investigation and analysis Symantec is happy to remove this detection from within its products"
Go here to download or wait for autoupdate:
http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/definitions.jsp
Although I assume this has to be done each time you update...
Nope, that should be included in their signature database from now on. So new updates should include the exclusion (or however they manage false positives).
Nice job!
Could you please tell me the secret password for the zip file for your handy app?
I cannot open the linked .zip files, as I need a password. What is it?
When I download it, I get a file named in the following way
${AppName}_${AppVersion}_pass=${PassWord}.zipso the password is the last part of the filename, after "pass=".~3D1T0R
I did not notice that. What is the point in that I wonder?
to prevent overzealous AV products from marking the download as harmful or malware.
My posts are old and likely no longer relevant.
Ironically and with hate filled forethought, my hosting provider also likes to use second rate shitty AV scanners to scan their sites. Guess whose downloads have been flagged twice for false positives? And guess what happens next? If you answered 'me' and 'got his domain disabled' you'd be correct. I hate the solution, but it was necessary.
How do you enable pfa, when I open it none of my associations change and the help text when I hover over the task tray icon says PortableFileAssociator (disabled) and I can not for the life of me see an enable button/option anywhere?
Help :0(
OK I changed the state in my custom WorkLaptop_state.ini file to 1 and re-opened it and the associations work, is this how I am supposed to turn them on and off?
:0)
EDITED 12/08/2011
Back to my original point "I am an idiot" with a flash of inspiration I clicked the "Add File Associations" and it worked....
Can anybody delete these posts so the whole world does not find out what an idiot I really am
:0)
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