IMO, Winamp is falling apart

[DrSKooT]

I downloaded my first copy of winamp over 10 years ago, back when it was the only way to play mp3's. Over the years I have had ups and downs, but now I am completely overwhelmed. It has taken me 2 hours just to find a way of contacting someone, my best efforts signed into this forum, in hopes to vent to someone who might care.

Aside from the many difficulties I have had I have reached a whole new level of frustration with this pimp-bot installation software. It is crap. Aside from freezing my computer every time I get near it, it clearly has some malware of some kind in it. This just seems irresponsible.

To whoever it concerns, I will no longer be staying up to date with Visbot visuals if this is the ONLY way to receive AVS files. Why do I not get the choice? Why must I install MORE software to make the same old software work.

appreciate you reading this

[Yathosho]

Re: IMO, Winamp is falling apart

Originally posted by DrSKooT
Aside from the many difficulties I have had I have reached a whole new level of frustration with this pimp-bot installation software. It is crap. Aside from freezing my computer every time I get near it, it clearly has some malware of some kind in it. This just seems irresponsible

when you use words like "clearly", you better have some facts to back that up. well, i already know you don't, so let me give you an update.

pimpbot, like the winamp installer and many others, is written in nsis. due to its free availability and it's flexibility, it has become a widespread installer. however, for the same reasons, nsis is also popular among the wicked. hence nsis is also used to install malware in whatever form. this is the reason, why many antisoftware products detect nsis installers as malware. (sometimes it's not nsis itself that leads to false positive, but a plugin used by the installer.)

if you were to "clearly" blame pimpbot to be malware, one should assume you already read about the countless similiar reports on the nsis wiki or forum. you obviously didn't, but despite your polemic nature, i do not blame you.

the reason why visbot decided to give away installers in the .pimp format is actually derived from problems like you blame them. there are thousands of antivirus products out there and every other version detects a different false positive with every other new version of nsis. one could rely on some of the users of such a product, that are at the same time aware the reported virus must be a false positive, report that to the manufacturer of the antivirus software. that won't happen very often.

hence, i tried this different approach with pimpbot runtime. it is also written in nsis, but not updated that often, hence most builds were compiled using the same version of nsis. this should reduce the problem with false positives, at the same time the size of the "installers" is decreased and there are alternative ways of getting to the data (.pimp files are standard 7-zip archives).

if you have problems with pimpbot runtime, you should report your problem with as many details as possible. if you're suspicious about pimpbot being malware, you should update your virus signatures, test it again or test it with different antivirus products (i'd test it online.)

Originally posted by DrSKooT
To whoever it concerns, I will no longer be staying up to date with Visbot visuals if this is the ONLY way to receive AVS files. Why do I not get the choice? Why must I install MORE software to make the same old software work.

in most cases you can get executable installers from deviantart or winamp.com. otherwise you are welcome to donate to visbot so we can pay the traffic caused by the relatively big executable installers (our traffic went down 30-50% since switching from exe to pimp.) also turn off your adblocker for visbot.net and click a banner every now and then.

[micro.D]

another proof: commercial antiviruses are still paranoid bastards. anyway why would an art community spread malware?

[DrSKooT]

Ever downloaded a virus? Ever heard someone say "Why would I lie?" as a defense to a lie? anyway...

It still freezes my computer, even if I just open the folder that the pimp bot installer is in. There are a million free places to host files on the web, so as for file space goes, give me a break... how about torrents?

I was just giving feedback, I wasn't attacking anyone. Everyone seems a bit defensive. Believe me, I definitely support you guys. I just don't understand why people make things more complicated and call it progress.

[Yathosho]

again:

installer created with NSIS = pimpbot runtime (created with NSIS too!)

same problem, same "virus"

over the last seven years (since visbot was founded), there have been over 50 versions of NSIS. that means in worst case your antivirus detect the same amount of "viruses" - opposed to ONE possible virus when using the runtime. trust me, once you ruled out a possible virus, runtime is the more secure way to go.

There are a million free places to host files on the web, so as for file space goes,

as mentioned, you can get our releases on customize.org, deviantart.com, winamp.com

apart from all that, the visbot servers will undergo an upgrade schedule back in january. do to the policy of the webhoster, the upgrade will be performed at the beginning of the next quarter - which is next week!

[The Earthquaker]

If the installer gets blocked by anti-virus software, it's not always the worst case.
When I had installed PimpBot the last time (v3.0.4), the anti-virus didn't interefere with the installation, but then had removed the uninstall exe. Imagine if that happens with some big software package that can never be uninstalled manually.