PECompact now requires certification before download

Started by Jeremy Collake, April 18, 2011, 01:17:06 PM

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Jeremy Collake

PECompact now requires authentication PRIOR to download. The good news is that this means upon purchase it will be quick and easy. The bad news is that access to the trial version is restricted to those who can simply show this (and this isn't an intensive rectal exam, it couldn't be simpler):

Show ONE OF the below:

  • Company name, and certify you are from that company
  • Software name, and link to the software
  • Web site URL
  • Your software hobby that you're using it on: example, description, or URL

Any ONE of these will allow me to do a quick check to make sure you are not a malware author, then you get the download. I know there are A LOT of hobbyists who use PECompact, it is no problem. As long as you are legit, you will get the download.

Additionally, certain plug-ins are available for customers only.

Did I want to do this? NO. I prefer to give the trial out entirely freely to everyone without prying into what they are doing. The fact is that PECompact (again, like any other developer utility) could be abused by malware authors, despite me taking actions to make sure anti-virus software can 'peek inside'. Still, they unknowingly thing it will help them somehow. I therefore must do what I can to mitigate the effect of that illicit and illegal abuse. At first I thought verifying ALL purchases was sufficient, but of course the malware people are just using pirated copies. So... I had to do this.

The internet has changed. Two rating sites have substantial power, with one (McAfee SiteAdvisor) seeming to be the larger (now owned by Intel, so flush pocket book). Due to a SINGLE false positive that were to exist a SINGLE day, a web site rating can go RED for an indefinite period of time. The developer utilities, due to their abuse by some people (like ANY developer utility, or freaking ZIP archiver for that matter), were sometimes causing false positives due to mistakes by the anti-virus companies. While these mistakes would be tolerable, as they are quickly fixed, the site rating change is not tolerable as it is NOT quickly fixed.

So, that's that... if you want to complain, give it to SiteAdvisor. They are the ones who immediately rate sites RED for a single false positive of many downloads and have terribly slow correction time, in my opinion. They hit me THREE times this year. The apparent cause, as best I can tell, was that an old false positive on PEBundle surfaced and just kept causing the site to be re-rated RED, DESPITE THAT FILE BEING REMOVED FOR SOME TIME. I had put it back on the server briefly for McAfee to evaluate it, ironically. They say they have fixed that false positive now, but I am sure not putting it back on the server to find out, lol.

Software Engineer. Bitsum LLC.