I have tried to install Speedreader 1.3.8 to my Windows systems: Win7 and Win10. For the extracted .exe file both systems report trojans and clean it out. There is nothing I can click to bypass the check or make an exception.

Version 1.3.4 runs fine.

Advise?

I suggest that you provide specifics about the messages you get. Windows Defender is well known to overly aggressive, especially towards unsigned software, and even more so for new releases.

GPSSpeedreader is virus free. You can verify that with free online tools, for example www.virustotal.com/gui/file/ddf1a50fb2b52758b563e18d416088a78287e11445dca21069e5ee99ea58fccc/detection
which runs dozens of anti-virus programs, none of which detect a virus or trojan.

The message I get on Windows10 says nothing about a trojan. It says "Windows protected your PC". Clicking on "More info" shows: Microsoft Defender prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk". The dialog has a button "Run anyway". Clicking it starts the app.

You may have settings or anti-virus software that are more aggressive and actually deletes the file, so you'll have to change the settings.

This is explained at docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/intelligence/criteria in the section about "Unknown - Unrecognized software".

If in doubt, run the downloaded ZIP file through a virus checker that actually looks for viruses and malware, instead of just labeling all new software as "unknown", and preventing it from running. There's plenty of free tools available online, for example opentip.kaspersky.com/ (which also did not find anything objectionable).

Of course, it is theoretically possible that your computer somehow got infected, and now infects other files when you unpack ZIP archives. But that's much less likely than false alerts.

Here's a screen shot of the top of the "virus free" report for the download link from vms.drweb.com/online/:

Select to expand quote

segler said..
Advise?

1. If you see a dialog from Windows Defender, click on "More info".
2. If it is another anti-virus program, post a screen shot.
3. Read the posts above.

My Windows Defender does not even offer a "more info" click. It just purges the .exe and then tells me it did. Thanks.

The solution for my systems was to run the .jar file since I have java installed in Windows. It runs fine. It also runs fine on my Linux machine. I like the new features of 1.3.8 even though I am far from being any kind of GPSSpeedreader adept.

What version of Windows 10 are you using? On Windows 10 Pro, the dialog looks like this:


Defender only stops the app from starting, it does not remove it. Clicking on "More info" changes the dialog to this:

After clicking on "Run anyway" once, Windows remembers the decision, and does not ask in the future for this version.
A scan with Windows Defender Antivirus does not flag the .exe file.

I'd appreciate if you could post a screen shot of the error message you describe. A few ways of how to take screen shots are described at www.cnet.com/how-to/7-ways-you-can-take-screenshots-in-windows-10/

No, I don't get that screen. I get a small screen that simply tells me it purged the file...without my input. This is both for Win10 and Win7. This never happened with 1.3.4, which ran fine.

No problem. I just run the .jar file.

Segler, you've fixed your problem. But I'm sure Peter wants to find out, what the problem is. He's very focused on his programs working well on all platforms. If he can't reproduce the problem on his computers, he needs your help in solving it.
It's strange it's happening on W7 and W10, it looks like you have the same anti malware program on both. Does the pop up window say what it is?
I've no idea about windows, I'm wondering if there's a log somewhere that reports what's happened.

Just for ****s and giggles, I still had the zip file for 1.3.4. I unzipped it to the .exe file and ran it. I ran fine.

When I did the exact same thing with 1.3.8 I got the error message from Defender.

So, something has changed in the compile code between 1.3.4 and 1.3.8. When I ran 1.3.8 the first time, Defender showed two Trojans for a few seconds then purged the file without any input from me. I did not write them down. Now that Defender knows about this, it prevents me from copying the unzipped .exe file to a folder where I would normally run it.

I have to believe that I am pretty much the only guy with this problem with 1.3.8. If so, the problem must be with my system, not anybody else's. It's OK. I can live with that since I can run the .jar file without errors.

The exe is just a minimal launcher (created with launch4j) that starts Java. The only thing that changed in the .exe is the version number, and the age of the file. Programs like Defender typically compute a hash code, and compare hash code and file size to known programs. Unknown programs are sometimes sent automatically Microsoft for thread analysis. That process is obscure, but it means that older versions of software are less likely to cause false alarms.

The one thing that does not sound right is that you state "Defender" found trojans on both Windows 7 and Windows 10. Windows Defender is a very different program on Windows 7 than on Windows 10 - much more primitive, and limited to trojans. On Windows 10, it is "Windows Defender Antivirus" and can detect all kinds of viruses, trojans, and other malware. On Windows 7, the "Windows Defender" program has been replaced by "Microsoft Security Essentials", which also is more functional than the ancient Windows Defender version. Even if you never installed Microsoft Security Essentials on your Window 7 computer, it is very likely that the Defender dialogs on Windows 7 and 10 would be different.

The only plausible cause why you would see the same warning about trojans on Windows 7 and 10 is that both of your computers or your router are already infected, and that the trojans get injected when downloading or unpacking the ZIP files. That's unlikely because you later get warning about the trojans, but possible.

It's usually pretty straightforward to get details about Windows Defender warnings. One way on Windows 7 is by opening the program, and looking for a "History" or similar tab. On Windows 10, you look at "Protection History" from Settings -> Windows Security -> Virus & threat protection.