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Euphoria Posts: 4
10/08/2015
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Hello, I've only recently discovered SyMenu and it's exactly what I want in a portable start-menu (aside from small things). Something I didn't expect when first testing it was the extensive list of download-able apps (and compatibility with PAF format?! 100% awesome). However, I noticed some great/helpful/fun/interesting programs that I know of weren't on the list! So I've been using SPS builder, trying to make a lot of them compatible and was just wondering if submitting them is going to be useful to anyone...
I'm sure that the submissions must be checked and approved by someone before they are added, so, is that still going on regularly enough or am I wasting time submitting things that will just sit somewhere for all eternity? Also, some software would not work when linked to the developer's website so I uploaded those ones to a MediaFire account in order to make them download correctly (as long as the license' allow free distribution). Will that be a problem for other users?
If more submissions are wanted and will be helpful to many people I'd like to continue uploading/submitting SPS files to give some lesser-known (but very useful!) apps more attention. Also curious on how the safety of files downloaded through SyMenu is determined. To be honest, I was a little afraid of running anything without scanning all of it first (I still am).
Thanks,
-Euphoria
EDIT: Sorry if this isn't an appropriate place to post this, in retrospect I have no idea what I was thinking when adding this post here...
edited by Euphoria on 10/08/2015
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Gianluca Administrator Posts: 1274
11/08/2015
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Hi Euphoria.
This is the perfect place to post your questions because I can reply to you and to all the users interested in helping the SPS thing at one time.
SPS Submission
You are right. Every SPS is personally checked by me, at least if you aren't yet a reliable editor.
In fact for some editors that are really expert in SPS (by now someone is more expert than me!) there is no validation. They produce or update their SPSs and the system publish everything in a few hours automatically and without any validation.
Package source URL
You are right again. There are a lot of software authors that protect their free programs from automatic download. SyMenu and SPS Builder are classified as automatic downloader because they don't browse to the download page but they download directly from the URL.
Let me say something:
Dear software authors... why!??!? Don't you want that your creatures spread worldwide at the speed of light? Free your software, free the download URLs...
Ok, now I can continue.
When you find a situation like this you can, accordingly with the software license, publish the package elsewhere, but... not in a cloud service that, again, doesn't allow automatic download. Mediafire is one of this because if you try to download something form one of the Mediafire URL you posted on your SPSs, you get an error, a redirect and again a fresh new URL. They want you go to their web pages and for a third party repository is a perfectly understandable need.
So please use other cloud services such as Dropbox, Drive, Box... they allow to publish public URLs.
One last thing: search well in the author web site before publishing the package in a different repository. Sylpheed for example is available at this url http://osdn.jp/frs/redir.php?f=%2Fsylpheed%2F63519%2Fsylpheed-3.4.3-win32.zip that is the official author repository and it that is an automatically downloadable URL.
Do we need more SPS?
No need to say yes.
We need new SPS files for high quality and really useful programs every day.
SPS safety
SyMenu doesn't check the posted programs but I personally check the editors reliability. If you are a reliable editor you can publish SPS otherwise you are banned.
Anyway check everything you download from the Internet. It's a good thing in any time.
SPS program report
I take this opportunity to stress out that the field SPS program report in SPS Builder is not mandatory but it should be always present. It is important that a user can report a broken URL, an error in SPS, a new version available.
If you have no online form to publish and don't want to publish your personal mail  , please publish my online contact form (http://www.ugmfree.it/ContactMail.aspx) and I'll redirect the user message to you privately.
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Euphoria Posts: 4
11/08/2015
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Thank you for the quick and very helpful response, it is very much appreciated! I'm glad to see that this is still an active community! SyMenu is a great tool to have on any USB drive used to launch portable applications. The compatibility with such an extensive list of programs is awesome alone; then there's the list of incredibly useful features that other portable app launchers don't have. It's simply the best.
I'd love to continue creating the SPS files to help offer even more great programs through SyMenu. As for the SPS that I've submitted so far (Bulk Rename Utility, Sylpheed, File Blender, DropIt and ArcThemAll!), the first one or two that I submitted could use a lot of work with the un-required fields. The others I submitted could benefit from adding more information as well (and changing the links/adding a contact email!).
I'll take a guess that you use VirusTotal or something similar to scan all uploads (and possibly other scans just to be safe). If that's the case, some of the programs I know of and intend to add DO have detections on VirusTotal but they are false positives. Of course I run 1-2 other virus scans on my computer after using these programs just to be sure. If that's a problem let me know so I can avoid those uploads altogether. I'd never want to cause a virus to spread through a file I uploaded and give SyMenu a bad reputation. So, although I try to double/triple check them all first, if there are any concerns about that, I'd like to avoid them altogether (unless we can figure it out and verify without doubt that the software is safe).
Sorry about the bad links! I tested them all and they worked, but should have tested multiple times. Sylpheed wouldn't work for me from that repository for some reason, I'll have to re-check that (and some others). It is really frustrating that some of the authors' do not allow automatic downloads though! It would just be helping them spread their program to a wider audience.
Last question, I promise!
For some programs that will allow auto-downloads, the structure of the software's folders can be... rather ugly. I prefer to have a clean structure, usually with the main .exe being within the folder and not inside multiple sub-folders. I know this is something that many users will never notice or care about and I may be the only one. In those cases should I always use the author's URL anyway or is it okay to re-arrange the structure to something easier to view if needed and the upload it and provide a new link? Is there a way to do both?
I will be looking into all of this myself, so I'll edit this post if I find answers and save you some time with your response.
EDIT: Let me know if this is incorrect. If it is correct you can disregard this: To update an SPS I just have to click "Load from UGM", edit the file and then click "Save in UGM"?
I reuploaded the fixed SPS files, I believe they all work now. If you notice any problems when reviewing them let me know. Still trying to figure out how to make sure a link will work for everyone and not only me. If each time the SPS is reuploaded, you have to view them separately, than I am VERY sorry. It took me a few tries on the first 2 before I remembered to fill out everything possible (correctly). Hopefully uploading just replaces the last submission.
Thanks again,
-Euphoria
edited by Euphoria on 11/08/2015
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Gianluca Administrator Posts: 1274
12/08/2015
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Euphoria wrote:
I'll take a guess that you use VirusTotal or something similar to scan all uploads (and possibly other scans just to be safe). If that's the case, some of the programs I know of and intend to add DO have detections on VirusTotal but they are false positives. Of course I run 1-2 other virus scans on my computer after using these programs just to be sure. If that's a problem let me know so I can avoid those uploads altogether. I'd never want to cause a virus to spread through a file I uploaded and give SyMenu a bad reputation. So, although I try to double/triple check them all first, if there are any concerns about that, I'd like to avoid them altogether (unless we can figure it out and verify without doubt that the software is safe).
I think that in case of a false positive is it enough to post a note about that. As I already told, scan every downloaded file from the Internet regardless the source assurance or whatever... Internet is a dangerous place
Euphoria wrote:
Last question, I promise!
For some programs that will allow auto-downloads, the structure of the software's folders can be... rather ugly. I prefer to have a clean structure, usually with the main .exe being within the folder and not inside multiple sub-folders. I know this is something that many users will never notice or care about and I may be the only one. In those cases should I always use the author's URL anyway or is it okay to re-arrange the structure to something easier to view if needed and the upload it and provide a new link? Is there a way to do both?
The only reason for using a different download URL than the official one is that it is impossible to automatically download the package from there.
BTW when SyMenu installs a program that has a root folder alone, it removes the root. One little contribution to a uniform file system organization.
Euphoria wrote:
Let me know if this is incorrect. If it is correct you can disregard this: To update an SPS I just have to click "Load from UGM", edit the file and then click "Save in UGM"?
Exactly. When you load a file from UGM you are loading one of your posteed SPS, edit it, and re-submit it again.
Euphoria wrote:
I reuploaded the fixed SPS files, I believe they all work now. If you notice any problems when reviewing them let me know. Still trying to figure out how to make sure a link will work for everyone and not only me. If each time the SPS is reuploaded, you have to view them separately, than I am VERY sorry. It took me a few tries on the first 2 before I remembered to fill out everything possible (correctly). Hopefully uploading just replaces the last submission.
A link surely work if you succeeded in testing it with SPS Builder. You can test it with the buttons: "Download package" or "Test SPS online".
Your SPS files are perfect now and I've just publish them. Congratulation! You are on board
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Euphoria Posts: 4
13/08/2015
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Awesome! Now that I know how to create a proper SPS, I'll start looking through my ridiculously long list of portable apps and add any not already available!
Gianluca wrote:
I think that in case of a false positive is it enough to post a note about that. As I already told, scan every downloaded file from the Internet regardless the source assurance or whatever... Internet is a dangerous place
I meant if I have a program I want to upload that shows detections on VirusTotal, but they are false positives. I've seen a couple interesting/useful programs that get flagged by lesser-known anti-viruses on VirusTotal (I think VBA32, ALYac, ByteHero and DrWeb are usually the ones that flag good software). Usually the detections are because the software uses AutoHotkey. Either way, I scan everything when downloaded, and do atleast one full system scan with MalwareBytes at the end of most days. Sometimes, depending on where I found the software, I'll run multiple system scans after using it.
So in the case that I have found a program worth uploading and it has false-positives on VirusTotal, should I post about it somewhere so someone else can double-check and confirm that they are false-positives? (at least until I can be considered trustworthy).
If I'm not absolutely sure something is clean, I wouldn't upload it. But because I'm new, I understand concerns with potentially malicious uploads. Let me know whatever is easiest for you in that situation (posting about it, not uploading it at all, whatever works best for you).
Gianluca wrote:
The only reason for using a different download URL than the official one is that it is impossible to automatically download the package from there.
BTW when SyMenu installs a program that has a root folder alone, it removes the root. One little contribution to a uniform file system organization.
Okay, perfect! That pleases my OCD I thought I had checked that but it may have been the original folder structure I looked at rather than the one downloaded through SyMenu...
Thanks again for the helpful reply! Sorry for the terribly wrong responses, I tend to ramble on at times...
-Euphoria
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Gianluca Administrator Posts: 1274
13/08/2015
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I'm trying to be clearer.
False positive from an unknown anti virus software? Who cares.
In my opinion the program is perfectly eligible for SPS. Check and double check the programs you want to upload and if you find a false positive add to the SPS notes a remark about that.
Conversely if a program is really suspicious avoid to upload it.
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Euphoria Posts: 4
13/08/2015
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Okay, got it! I always double check, if not triple check.
Thanks for answering all of my questions clearly and in-depth. It's great to see someone so involved and supportive, especially with something like SyMenu. I understand everything perfectly now and will continue submitting new apps!
-Euphoria
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Gianluca Administrator Posts: 1274
13/08/2015
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I'm so supportive and involved because SyMenu is one of my main working tools... Essentially I'm SyMenu most demanding user
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