Messages

1

UCheck / Re: UCheck v5.3.1 Incorrectly Recommends Update to HWiNFO Portable v7.73 BETA

« on: March 11, 2024, 10:07:51 AM »

Thanks for letting me know that the UCheck change log is actually visible. My problem with viewing the change log appears to have been due to some unusual behavior of an extension on my Chrome browser. I found that the problem was not present when using a different browser and that it went away in Chrome after switching to incognito mode and then returning back to normal mode.

P.S. The HWiNFO download page (hwinfo.com/download/) is quite clear that the v7.73 is a beta release (portable only) and that 7.72 is the current production release for both the installer and portable editions - screenshot attached. HWiNFO is a UCheck compatible program and the update to the installed edition could be used to identify an update to the portable edition without having to do it separately and introducing the possibility of a false (beta) detect and a delay due to waiting for community feedback.

2

UCheck / Re: UCheck v5.3.1 Incorrectly Recommends Update to HWiNFO Portable v7.73 BETA

« on: March 11, 2024, 02:17:59 AM »

Addtionally, the change log for UCheck 5.3.1 is not posted as of 1800 PDT on  Sun 10 Mar 2024 - see attached screenshot.

3

UCheck / Re: Sysinternals Contig 1.83

« on: March 06, 2024, 08:25:45 AM »

UCheck seems to display the embedded file version of the .exe file rather than the program version when listing the version of a portable program. The file version and program version may be different and one or both may be missing in the resource data of the .exe file. The file version seems to be the better choice in general for matching the true version of a portable program (as listed in the About display, title bar, or opening screen of the program, etc.) although not in the particular case of Sysinternals utilities - see examples of portable programs below. For portable programs, there is no external source of program info like the uninstall data in the registry used by UCheck for installed programs.

Some examples of version data for portable programs.

   Program, True Version, File Version (displayed by UCheck), Program Version - Remarks      
1. Sysinternals Contig, v1.83, 1.8.3.0, 1.83 - program version matches true version
2. Sysinternals Coreinfo, v3.6, 3.6.0.0, 3.6 - program version matches true version
3. Malwarebytes AdwCleaner, v8.4.2, 8.4.2.0, 8.4 - first three digits of the 4-digit file version matches true version and is more exact
4. Patch My PC Updater, v4.5.0.4, 4.5.0.4, 0.0.0.1 - file version matches true version and program version is not even close

4

UCheck / Re: download

« on: November 24, 2023, 05:42:23 AM »

After clicking "Download" and downloading the update file, an "Install" option should appear in the menu. Simply  click on "Install" to install the udpate. You don't need to specify the file name since UCheck already knows where it is.

UCheck normally downloads update files to %TEMP% (typically C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp) with some randomized file name.

The above only applies to updates to programs on the UCheck compatible (fully supported) programs list. Downloading and installing updates to community programs requires the user to go to the program's website and manually download and install the udpate.

5

UCheck / Re: False Detection of Updates to PowerShell

« on: November 22, 2023, 10:24:44 PM »

As you can see from the data for PowerShell 7 from the SUMo DB in my original post, there are flags to denote beta versions and a single flag to denote the current (latest) version of PowerShell 7. The algorithm to detect an update is automated but the flags can be manually changed by a moderator or developer if the detected update is reported and determined to be a false positive.

I do not know what algorithms were implemented in SUMo.  KC Software has declined multiple recent requests on the SUMo Forum to make the SUMo source code or algorithms available now that SUMo has gone EOL. However, if only a small percentage of users migrate to a new version after a day or two and the majority remain on a recent but earlier version, that new version is probably a beta.  if you do not track the actual versions that users are on, you are unable to see this migration pattern. Please note that PowerShell was cited here as an example of the problem. I think this same problem applies to false positives on other community programs.

Ref. the following posts on the Wilder's UCheck thread:

OLLI_S (#365, 2023-11-06, page 15): [SUMo offers a cool feature to report beta versions:
Right click the entry, select "Report Beta", here a new email is generated with all required data already filled in.

Tigzy (#368, 371, 2023-11-06, page 15): Yes but this goes against the full automation... Someone has to pick up the support ticket and do it. Not sure what load this would generate for us. . . I believe this is what happened with SUMo if an email was generated.

Bill H (#380, 2023-11-06, page 16) For SUMo, Kyle had members of the community that had the power to mark a version as a beta or unmark it as beta. I am one of the individuals that could do this. I'm not sure how many folks he had with this power. It wasn't all done by Kyle and his team. Link: Post #380

6

UCheck / Re: False Detection of Updates to PowerShell

« on: November 22, 2023, 10:13:21 AM »

I have not seen any follow-up on this problem.

The basic issue is that I (and most users) would be expected to be on the current stable version after a few days of its release. However, although I was on the latest stable release 7.3.9.500 at the time of my original post on 2023-11-14, it is not a even listed in the UCheck database data as you note in your response. Why not?

The 7.4.0.101 (and the incorrectly numbered 7.4.101.0) versions were (and still are) the latest preview channel version, 7.4.0-rc.1, 2023-10-24. From the data you provided, it appears that the actual versions reported by users are not being recorded in the database and the database is incrementing counters for later versions that will be reported as updates. These later versions are likely to be betas.  You need to be tracking the actual distribution of versions of users, not just trying to detect the "latest" version number above a small threshold. This might explain why there are a large number of false positives/false detects (FP/FD) of updates for community programs. This problem does not affect detection of updates to compatible programs.

I have suggested to Tigzy on two occasions to provide a capability for users to view the entries in the database of a program so they can detect what is going on. He has declined saying that would be a niche feature. SUMo had this feature and it was very useful into figuring out FD/FP of beta versions and observing the migration of users to new releases. SUMo had several moderators who were empowered to manually update the database to correct for FP attributed to beta versions.

Please note since my original message, the stable channel is now moved from the 7.3 to the new 7.4 release, version number 7.4.0.500, 2023-11-16. The LTS channel has also moved to 7.2.17,500, 2023-11-16. However, the preview channel is stuck at the old 7.4.0-rc.1 version (2023-10-24), since no subsequent preview releases have been produced with the release of 7.4.0. I am now on the stable channel version 7.4.0.500 but continue to get updates notifications to 7.4.101.0, which was the release candidate (7.4.0-rc.1) for that version.

7

UCheck / Re: A couple suggestions for improvements

« on: November 20, 2023, 06:06:32 AM »

UCheck beta testing is currently focused on rapidly adding the ability to identify SW updates from version info supplied by the UCheck community (i.e., users) and to enable monitoring of updates to portable software, both of which were available in the KC Softwares SUMo product which went EOL (end-of-life) at the end of October. The following existing thread on Wilder's Security Forums was repurposed for beta test discussions beginning at post #19, 14 Sep 2023 on page 1 of the thread and has rapidly grown to over 1100 posts and over 45 pages over the past two months.

UCheck - Update your software in 2 clicks (Wilder's Security Forums)
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/ucheck-update-your-software-in-2-clicks.404593/page-47

The announcement for the latest beta (v5.0.6.0-BETA, 23 Nov 2023) was provided by Tigzy in post #1149 on page 46 of this thread at the following link:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/ucheck-update-your-software-in-2-clicks.404593/page-46#post-3173477

You need to follow the thread to keep up with announcements of new betas and changes in content. There is no formal changelog for betas and since the beta version number is reused, a later beta can only be readily distinguished from a prior version by the date of the digital signature in the portable .exe that was downloaded.

8

UCheck / Bad DL Page Links

« on: November 19, 2023, 06:18:15 AM »

The download page links provided for the following compatible programs on the UCheck website and in-program are incorrect:

PDF-XChange Editor (Tracker Software)
The provided link is for PDFCreator (pdfforge) rather than for PDF-XChange Editor.
The correct DL link is: https://www.tracker-software.com/product/downloads

PeaZip (Georgio Tani)
The provided DL and license page links are non-functional.
The correct DL page link is: https://peazip.github.io/peazip-64bit.html
The correct license page link is: https://peazip.github.io/peazip-sources.html

9

UCheck / False Detection of Updates to PowerShell

« on: November 14, 2023, 08:32:21 AM »

I have been regularly receiving notification from UCheck 5.0.4.0 and 5.0.5.0-BETA of an update to PowerShell to version 7.4.101.0 or earlier versions of 7.4 preview (beta) channel. I have the latest version of the stable channel of PowerShell, version 7.3.9, 2023-10-26, installed on my PC. The "7.4.101.0" version number of the reported update appears to be an incorrect variation of the version number 7.4.0.101 for the 7.4.0-rc.1 preview (beta) channel release of 2023-10-24.

The latest releases of PowerShell are:
LTS (7.2): v7.2.16.500, 2023-10-26
Stable (7.3): v7.3.9.500, 2023-10-26
Preview (7.4): 7.4.0.101 (aka 7.4.0-rc.1), 2023-10-24   

References:
https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell
https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases

The corresponding usage data for PowerShell (211 total users) that I collected from SUMo on the evening of 2023-10-31, just before it was taken offline, was:

7.4.0.101,beta, 5 users (2%)
7.4.0.6, beta, 26 users (12%)
7.4.0.5, beta, 1 user (0%)
7.3.9.500, current, 141 users (67%)
7.3.8.500, 33 users (16%)
7.3.4.500, 1 user (0%)
7.2.15.500, 3 users (1%)
7.2.1.500, 1 user (0%)

This data clearly shows that the majority of SUMo users were on the latest version of the stable channel, 7.3.9.500, not on latest or earlier preview or LTS channel releases. Please provide similar current usage data for PowerShell from the UCheck database for comparison. It apppears that UCheck has a fixation with erroneously reporting beta versions as updates.

While a beta/preview version may show some initial uptake of users when it is first released (as beta tester move to it), I would not expect the majority of users to migrate from the current stable release to the beta version over subsequent days. However, if the new version was actually for a stable release, most users would move to it upon receiving an update notification. This migration or lack thereof provides a possible way to distinguish between updates to beta and stable channel versions without knowledge of the underlying version numbering scheme and to automatically correct (retract) a false detection (FD) of an update after a day or two of data.

10

UCheck / Re: False positives - Version installed is not correct

« on: November 09, 2023, 09:29:56 PM »

It appears that the uninstall data for the old version is still present in the registry which would explain why Programs & Features shows entries for both old an new versions and why UCheck detects that an update is needed.

If both versions are present in the registry and showing in Programs & Features but the new version is the one actually installed in the same location, I would try uninstalling the old version by right-clicking on it in Programs and Features to see if tht removes its entry and then reinstall the new version (since files may have been deleted by the uninstall). An alternative would be to go into the registry and delete the uinstall entry for the old version shown below.

Experiment with HWINFO64 first as a test case since it is a very simple install.

You might also first try looking at the uninstall data for HWINFO64 (and other affected programs) in the registry using the NirSoft utility "UninstallView" to verify that there are two entries. UninstallView is available for download at:https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/uninstall_view.html. It is portable so all you have to do is cclick on its .exe file and it will display a detailed view of the uninstall data for all installed programs.

HWiNFO64 Version 7.40 (64 bits), version 7.40
Uninstall: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\HWiNFO64_is1
Location: C:\System\HWiNFO64\

11

UCheck / Re: False positives - Version installed is not correct

« on: November 09, 2023, 01:09:46 AM »

You seem to have a very strange installation of these older versions of HWINFO64, Firefox and Thunderbird. These old 64-bit versions are shown below located in non-standard folders (C:\System, C:\Comm) rather than in Program Files. These old versions appear to date from Feb 2023. Are the files for the old versions still present in the stated locations on the C: drive? Someone went to some effort to set up separate folders for System, Comm, Multimedia, Software, Reference, etc. on the C: drive. Were these old versions "installed" as portable programs? Normally, a portable program would not have an uninstall entry in the registry or a separate uninstall executable.

All three programs are fully supported as installed UCheck-compatible programs (not as community programs or portable programs). UCheck is picking up the entry for the old version in the registry and correctly identifying that there is a later update. You indicate the new version is already installed on your machine. Presumably this is the second entry shown in your screenshot from Programs & Features. Is there a second uninstall entry in the registry for the updated version of these programs? Where is the new installation located, C: or D: \Program Files?

--

Code: [Select]

User: RabbitWolf

HWiNFO64 Version 7.40 (64-bit), version 7.40
  [+] Available Version        : 7.64
  [+] Size                     : 7.82 MB
  [+] Wow6432                  : No
  [+] Portable                 : No
  [+] update_location          : C:\System\HWiNFO64\

Mozilla Firefox (x64 en-US) (64-bit), version 108.0.2
  [+] Available Version        : 119.0.1
  [+] Size                     : 212 MB
  [+] Wow6432                  : No
  [+] Portable                 : No
  [+] update_location          : C:\Comm\Internet\Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Thunderbird (x64 en-US) (64-bit), version 115.0
  [+] Available Version        : 115.4.2
  [+] Size                     : 238 MB
  [+] Wow6432                  : No
  [+] Portable                 : No
  [+] update_location          : C:\Comm\Internet\Mozilla Thunderbird

---

HWiNFO64 Version 7.40 (64 bits), version 7.40
  [+] Uninstall           : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\HWiNFO64_is1
  [+] Location            : C:\System\HWiNFO64\

Mozilla Firefox (x64 en-US) (64 bits), version 108.0.2
  [+] Uninstall           : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Mozilla Firefox 108.0.2 (x64 en-US)
  [+] Location            : C:\Comm\Internet\Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Thunderbird (x64 en-US) (64 bits), version 115.0
  [+] Uninstall           : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Mozilla Thunderbird 115.0 (x64 en-US)
  [+] Location            : C:\Comm\Internet\Mozilla Thunderbird[/tt]



12

UCheck / Re: New User Question - Update with blue background?

« on: November 05, 2023, 05:18:50 AM »

The updates with white backgrounds are for updates to programs which UCheck fully supports for notification of updates, downloads and installs. These programs are on the list of the approximately 250 UCheck-compatible programs on the UCheck product website (https://www.adlice.com/ucheck-software-list/) and on the Downloads tab within the UCheck program. The UCheck server finds updates to these programs by monitoring selected websites for availability of an updated version of the program.

The updates with blue backgrounds are for "community" programs. For these programs, the UCheck server determines that an update to the program is available from the number of UCheck users who have migrated to a new version of the program. This determination is based on "community" data collected on which programs are installed on UCheck users' machines when UCheck scans are performed. UCheck does not have knowledge of specific download links or monitor any specific websites for these programs and therefore cannot download or install the software. Since identification of updates to community data is based on limited data and involves use of heuristics, updates to community data may not always be correct or may be missed. In the case of "community" updates, the user is expected to (1) use the "Check for Update" function for the affected program on his machine to verify and install the update or (2) to maintain a separate list of links of downloads, version history, etc. for programs installed on his machine which he can then use to manually confirm, download and install the update. In the event that neither of these two methods is available, the "Open search" link provided on the list of updates will open a web search for the program identified as having an update.

13

UCheck / Re: New user: Autoscan at program startup?

« on: October 27, 2023, 02:16:12 AM »

This suggestion has already been discussed on the Wilder's Security Forum UCheck thread.

See Tigzy's response at post # 607 - link below. Also see posts # 603, 609, 612 and others on page 25 of the thread for related discussion.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/ucheck-update-your-software-in-2-clicks.404593/page-25#post-3168518

14

UCheck / Re: UCheck is confusing XnView MP with XnView

« on: October 20, 2023, 07:25:09 AM »

It is interesting to note that Patch My PC has also recently encountered a problem with XnView and XnView MP. When I scanned my machine, it indicated that an update to XnView MP was available in the right panel but selected XnView for download (red X in left panel) and did not recognize that XnView MP was even installed (not in green font in left panel). The problem was initially reported by other users on the PMPC Forum on 14 Oct but there has been no response from PMPC support, only from other users.

Patch My PC - XnView MP (x64) shows as outdated and not installed
Thread started 14 Oct 2023
https://patchmypc.com/forum/index.php?topic=7081.0

15

UCheck / Re: A comparison between SUMo and UCheck

« on: October 18, 2023, 12:12:29 AM »

"The difference is our database is filled using editors websites and changelogs. SUMo's one rely on users data; if more than 50% of the version number reported do not match yours, an update notification is triggered."

SUMo's algorithm for identifying an update is more complicated than that and requiring a 50% threshold is much too high in most cases. It would mean that 50% of the users would not get any benefit from a notification from SUMo since they would already have been on the new version.

A user can query the SUMo DB in real-time and see the distribution of users across the versions of a program. I've seen it less that 15% when a significant number of users are involved. The algorithm has not been made public to my knowedge and it is not always correct, but its better to lean toward announcing an update than not. Given a sufficient number of users of a program, I think that SUMo's community-based method actually provides for faster notifications. Fortunately, that capability is now being incorporated in UCheck beginning with version 5.0 and should provide a discriminator over most updaters which are limited to checking a fixed list of programs.