How does my program survive all the security?

[MarkP]

I´ve developped an application for Windows years ago.
That has always worked fine, until the latest updates for Windows as well as some antivirus have started some kind of war against private programming.

My program isn´t very popular, I´m having maybe 5 downloads per week, so it already begins with Windows refusing to download the ínstaller, because it says, this program doesn´t have many downloads, therefore it´s better not to download it at all.
Most users don´t even see the button underneath that warning, where you can open an extended choice where you find the option for "download anyway".
For a halfway solution, I´m putting the installer in a .zip file which at least can be downloaded, but obviously that´s not really comfortable for the user.

Upon installation you get the usual warnings, those aren´t new, most users can handle that, but then upon first run it becomes a pain.
Upon first launch of the .exe, Avast steps in, freezes the program and checks it for viruses.
It doesn´t find any, but by the time Avast is satisfied, some users have long lost patience, clicked some button in the Avast message that terminates the program and with a little luck Avast puts a permanent block on executing the program or even deletes the .exe, meaning even reinstall of the program won´t help any, the program won´t run on that computer anymore unless the user figures out how to unblock it.

By my estimate I´d say a good 50% of all potential new users of my program blame me and my application for the problems, they believe it´s a piece of junk and they don´t want it anymore.

I´ve tried putting notes in fat characters to the download, pointing out the problem, but of course, the users who can´t handle this kind of problem are at same time the ones who never read such notes.

The big problem is now, I´m developping a new version of my application, meaning ALL my users have to reinstall it and they will all run into this problem.
So before I now lose half my customers, how on earth can I overcome this?

[rjvc]

I know that this might not help, but even avast(v.14) blocks codeblock(new version) from compiling my projects, and I have to manually disable it from time to time when compiling. :/

[MarkP]

My program isn´t all that fancy, and I´m still developping with an older version of C::B in Windows 7, so far no problems there.

Only my users have these problems.

First the download terminates twice, once from Windows, once from Avast.
Avast even calls it an infection, forgot what it´s called, but it´s only because it isn´t downloaded often.
Wonder how anyone could start a new download offer this way, I mean someone has to start it and at least for the first few downloads it will not be recognized as an often downloaded thing.

Then this new Avast DeepScreen ..... I have no words to descripe this junk, but then, it doesn´t help me if I disable it on my computer, as long as unexperienced users take anything their antivirus installs for a good security feature and this feature then tells them there´s a virus ..... what can the developper do?
Would you believe someone you don´t know, if he tells you program X has no virus, while your antivirus says it has one?`
Some users simply don´t know that "not often downloaded" is taken like a virus.

[modoran]

Windows refusing to download the ínstaller, because it says, this program doesn´t have many downloads

I never heard about such case, that windows itself (or the browser for that matter) block a specific file from download. How it could know which time a file has been downloaded so far ?

Clearly you are on a wrong track here :)

Most users don´t even see the button underneath that warning, where you can open an extended choice where you find the option for "download anyway".

Isn't that warning displayed by usual browsers in effect for every EXE file, not just yours ?

Then this new Avast DeepScreen ..... I have no words to descripe this junk, but then, it doesn´t help me if I disable it on my computer, as long as unexperienced users take anything their antivirus installs for a good security feature and this feature then tells them there´s a virus ..... what can the developper do?

Solutions:
1. Sign your application with a digital certificate - this costs money, but these days this is a standard practice
2. Email antivirus vendors to whitelist your application if mistankelly was flagged like a virus.
3. Rewrite application to not use suspect APIs or encryption techniques usually used by malware.

Some users simply don´t know that "not often downloaded" is taken like a virus.

You insist on that matter, maybe web domain is compromised, move it to another webserver (like google or sourceforge) and see what happens.

[Computergeek01]

2. Email antivirus vendors to whitelist your application if mistankelly was flagged like a virus.

I second this one. It's likely that your application is being detected false positive because it hits some default heuristic threshold when it gets scanned. Asking the vendor to add your applications signature to there exception list is the way to go.

What is your app OP?

[Frederica]

You can think about how to promote the program right，that should help you more.




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[MarkP]

I believe you guys got things a bit confused.
There is in fact a database that for example Windows and Avast use to keep track of how often a program has been downloaded.
If you want to find out about it, create any kind of test application .exe, upload it anywhere on the web, open your browser and download it for execution (like anyone would do with any kind of installer.exe), with Windows UAC enabled and Avast with latest update on default settings.

You will see, first Windows recommends not to download it, because this program isn´t downloaded often.
This one has an option underneath, where you can choose "download anyway", but then comes Avast does the very same thing, only MUCH stricter.
Avast will call it an infection named .... (i forgot the precise name it has for the infection) and if you lookup what this infection actually is, it says "not often downloaded".
Avast will then delete the downloaded file before you can do anything about it.
Only if the download is a .zip or something else, just not an installer.exe Avast will allow the download.

Promoting a program doesn´t help any, paying to get on some white list or get it certified doesn´t help either, because by the time you get through all that, the problem will disappear by itself, simply because while you wait for all those procedures, enough people will have downloaded it, so the "infection" will not be found anymore.

It´s just on start, when launching a new software, before you could get any approval, any entry into a whitelist or whatever, while ALL users will try to upgrade their software to the latest version, everyone gets these stupid warnings, where a good portion of users tends to believe the warnings and I lose them as my members.

Edit: Paying for it is out of the question anyway.
I´m developping this in my spare time and I do it entirely for free.
I´m not getting a single cent out of it, I don´t even have a donate button on my website or anything and not the slightest bit of advertising either.
I´m paying the cost of my website and my webserver from my own pocket, but that has to be it, I can´t afford more than I´m already paying (where I don´t even want to guess what M$ or companies like Avast might charge for an entry into a whitelist).