It's a miracle if anyone ever downloads my commercial software product

It's a miracle if anyone ever downloads my commercial software product in light of all the anti-virus/firewall software and AV browser plug-ins that outright block or discourage users from downloading EXEs from a web site. Almost every other attempt by users to download my software from my website via a direct <a href=> tag causes the download to fail/be interrupted by the browser or AV software.

Is there a better method to provide users access to my install.exe than a <a href=> link that would reduce the interference by these products?

Most recently I got a complaint stating that Norton AV cancelled out the click on the DOWNLOAD link to the point the user thought the DOWNLOAD button was dead/broken. The only way they could download the software was to right mouse click on the DOWNLOAD button (connected to a <a href=> link) and choose "Save link as..." But most users are not going to be that savvy to figure this workaround out.

I thought perhaps I should packaging my install.exe in a .zip file, hoping that that would keep some of the anti-virus products at bay.

There there is always Microsoft's Edge, which strongly discourages users from download EXEs to the point you basically have to ignore all their popup warnings before it allows the download to continue.

As I stated, it is a miracle that anyone ever gets my software installed on their PCs. No doubt sales are affected as a result.

Any tips/suggestions?

Hello,

did you code-sign your installer with a trusted certificate and did you build a "reputation" for it?

Friedrich

See:

http://www.lindersoft.com/forums/sho...hots-attached)

BTW, a ZIP will not help because the operation system will also perform a malware scan. You really need a certificate and a reputation for it.

Friedrich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by linder

See:

http://www.lindersoft.com/forums/sho...hots-attached)

BTW, a ZIP will not help because the operation system will also perform a malware scan. You really need a certificate and a reputation for it.

Friedrich

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I already have a certificate on the install.exe

See below:

Attachment 5024

As far as building a reputation... How can you build up a reputation for a product that can't be downloaded!

One thing I noticed with respect to the Chrome browser... If the download home page is connected via https and you have a <a href= tag that uses http: instead of https:, Chrome will totally ignore the click on the hyperlink! No popup warning or nothing. Just totally ignores the click event.

Okay, if you already have a certificate, then I think your "reputation" is too low. And the IP address of the host server might be another thing (listed on "blacklists"?).

One possible solution (I do not recommend it because certificates are a money making machine) might be an Extended Validation (EV) certificate. This gives your certificate "Instant customer confidence".

BTW, even renaming your files would not help, because anti-spyware / anti-virus products analyze downloaded files to detect its binary contents.

Friedrich

Quote:

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Okay, if you already have a certificate, then I think your "reputation" is too low. And the IP address of the host server might be another thing (listed on "blacklists"?).

One possible solution (I do not recommend it because certificates are a money making machine) might be an Extended Validation (EV) certificate. This gives your certificate "Instant customer confidence".

BTW, even renaming your files would not help, because anti-spyware / anti-virus products analyze downloaded files to detect its binary contents.

Friedrich

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small question related to the issue

how can I check my Ip's and emails if they are not blacklisted

Hello,

there are quite a few services that handle it. For example, www.sitechecker.pro, blacklistmaster.com, and many more. I think even VirusTotal can handle it.

Friedrich

MXToolbox.com does this and has a variety of tools.