Install of FSUIPC impossible

[MartienR]

Hai there,

 

Afther the whole reinstall of my computer I wil install Flightsimulator 2004 and then FSUIPC. I must given then the 12 character key but FSUIPC say, Sorry, this key is not a valid 12-character key. I have this key used in FS 2004 earlier and now I have a problem.

Can anyone help me please?

 

Martien Roelofs

[Pete Dowson]

Afther the whole reinstall of my computer I wil install Flightsimulator 2004 and then FSUIPC. I must given then the 12 character key but FSUIPC say, Sorry, this key is not a valid 12-character key. I have this key used in FS 2004 earlier and now I have a problem.

 

You are either making a mistake -- not only the key must be exact, but also your name and email address, EXACTLY as first registered -- or the date set in your computer is wrong, earlier than your registration date. Maybe you've not set the date yet?

 

Pete

[Philippe Urban]

Hello all,

 

I've downloaded the latest version of FSUIPC4 (4.936 if I'm not wrong) and ... IMPOSSIBLE to open the exe file because Norton Internet Security catched it as "strongly dangerous" due to a WS. thing not adequate.

I cannot ask NIS to skip that because it considers the exe file as seriously dangerous ?????? I simply cannot open the file and ... I payed for it!!! What will you do for this ??????????????????

regards

Philippe Urban

 

[Ian P]

Sorry you're having problems, Philippe, but you're looking at the wrong software as being the actual problem.

Pete is on holiday at the moment and, even were he not, he cannot fix an incorrect error report and false positive reported by Norton. The problem lies with their software and not with FSUIPC - unless you downloaded it from an incorrect link and got a version that has been maliciously modified. It sounds, though, as if you got it from a valid link, but have been messed about by Symantec instead.

 

The latest version is 4.936c and can be downloaded via the link here: http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/Install_FSUIPC4936c.zip

 

I suggest that you try downloading using that link and installing that version. If Norton still reports a false positive on that one then you will have to contact Symantec and join the tens of thousands of false positive reports generated by their utterly abysmal heuristics implementation!

 

All the best,

 

Ian P.
Forum Admin

[Philippe Urban]

Hello Grumpy Old Mod

 

first a BIG thanks for your prompt answer ...

second, ... well ... NIS is quite OK besides that problem !????

third .. well let me try your link and I let you know what I face  :))))

Best regards

Philippe (crossing fingers)

[Philippe Urban]

Hello again

 

No, Norton is still blocking this FSUIPC 4.936c version !!!!!! Again a "red" answer: high danger for my PC to nstall your stuff if i believe Norton ?????

I will contact Norton and let you know what how they will react.

I do NOT like that!

 

Philippe

an unhappy customer

PS Norton is VERY efficient besides that much more tha Kasperski ... I will contact SimMarket (where I bought your stuff to let them know what I think of your afte-buy servicing) :(((((

[Ian P]

I am neither the developer of FSUIPC nor simMarket staff, so complaining to them about me won't achieve anything.

 

If you had read the sticky post at the top of this forum, you would have seen that FSUIPC's developer is currently out of the country on holiday and cannot respond in person. He will, I'm sure, when he returns. His response will be "There's nothing I can do, because Norton is reporting a false positive and you'll have to talk to them."

 

If you search for the exact "malware" found by Norton, you will find that it is almost certainly going to include the characters "GEN" - a "Generic" detection by a piece of software that scans using a system called "heuristics", which looks for malware-like behaviour, in an attempt to trap what is referred to as a "day zero" attack - a new piece of malware that the AV vendors have not yet had time to add to their definitions. The problem with Heuristics is that it's pretty much always wrong - almost everything it detects as "malware" is perfectly normal software and it very, very, rarely actually picks up new malware on the day of release. When it does, it's usually a slightly modified version of malware already in circulation and the virus databases. At this time, however, no-one has come up with anything better than Heuristic detection, so that's what people use. More out of hope than effectiveness.

 

FSUIPC 4.936c is not a new release. You are far from the first person to download it and to have it scanned by a piece of AV software. You are the first person to report a problem with it, which means that it's almost certainly a database update from Norton that has caused the false detection. If you search here, you'll find a few false positives reported before - interestingly, usually with Norton, but occasionally from other vendors as well. I think there was an AVG false positive a few versions ago, for instance, but Norton thought that version was fine!

 

This is a significant problem with PC anti-virus - the vendors are now having to update numerous times a day, because so many new pieces of malware are entering circulation and being found. The speed with which they have to turn around updates introduces problems, which inconvenience people such as yourself and Pete, but can be quickly resolved if you report it to them.

 

From a quick search, it seems that Bitdefender, F-Secure and Norton IS 2013 are currently the buyers' choices from commercial magazines. F-Secure and Bitdefender also top the charts at independent IT support forums and sites, but Norton is nowhere to be found on those lists. That's because of the markets being different. Norton, being aimed at the general public buying a PC, prefer over-protective behaviour to risking allowing something through, Other pieces of software want a small "overhead", lower CPU and RAM usage when running and are aimed at gamers or PC enthusiasts, who are less likely to open the e-mails or links that distribute the malware and are more able to deal with it if they do catch something nasty.

 

It's not a case of something being "better" or "worse", it's a case of different perspectives. However, unfortunately, the facts are still that Norton will have to white list FSUIPC again, after confirming again that it isn't, in fact, malware. Nothing Pete can do will help with that and I'm sorry about that, but it's what happens.

 

Having done IT support for just under 30 years now, I have had to submit hundreds of files to AV vendors over the years and have had hundreds of false positives to deal with. It's not a big deal and easy to resolve.

 

Again, I'm sorry that you're having problems and that no-one but Norton can help, but that's the truth!

 

Ian P.

[smoker10]

I have also experienced the above problem having just purchased FSUIPC4 from SimMarket.  It's paid for and I have the Key.  I am also the administrator.  Having downloading/saving the demo version and then running it,  I attempted to install FSUIPC4.  It failed of course, as did the many following repeated attempts.  The failure mode depended on whether I "ran" the program, or "extracted" the data, both options are on the menu that appeared.  One  reported  "I was not the Administrator", the second resulted in my  Norton system declaring FSUIPC4 was dangerous and removed the file.  Also, with the former, the folder FSUIPC4 was saved again and I ended up with multiple folders.  Having read the above reports and the Norton references, I downloaded the recommended "FSUIPC4" given above.  It failed also. The publisher/developer is blaming Norton for this problem but like others I'm somewhat brassed off with a piece of software that is not fit for purpose in a world that is surounded with anti virus programs designed to keep us safe.  I shall try to get my money back from SimMarket

 

Smoker10.

[Philippe Urban]

Hello all,

 

Ian P, I do not like the tone of your reply ...

Norton answered today and told me that it is not their responsability but yours so YOU, or Peter Dowson, or whoever received my money thru SimMarket has to fix this trouble.

Please do it as soon as posible.

After all, you accepted my money without asking how I earned it, right? So do the job you were payed for !

Thanks

 

Philippe

[Pete Dowson]

If Norton is rejecting a perfectly safe ZIPped package of software it is because it detects what it thinks is a virus in what it thinks is code. FSUIPC itself and its installer is scrambled before being ZIPped and its binary patterns are therefore pretty random looking. When a virus checker finds one in such a package it will most certainly be what is called a "FALSE POSITIVE", and all respectable virus checkers have a way for you to either tell it so or at minimum report the problem to the originator so more thorough analysis of why the false report was produced can be carried out.

 

I am sorry, but I don't have Norton. I use AVAST on one PC and AVG on another and both of these have very good systems for both overriding and reporting these events. If Norton has not then I can only suggest you temporarily disable it whilst installing FSUIPC, or wait a couple of days or so for the next version of FSUIPC which I need to produce in order to work correctly with P3D 2.4 which appeared whilst I was on holiday.

 

I am deeply upset by the really nasty accusations made in this thread, especially stating that the software is not fit for purpose nor supported properly, and I am closing this thread now.

 

Pete