photools.com Community

Hi, users

can you please log into the new customer portal

https://www.photools.com/customer/

and download the (current) IMatch 5.6.22 version.

Just download and then verify that the downloaded file is complete by double-clicking the file. DO NOT install it again. If the installer starts without error message, we know that the download was successful and the file is complete. You can abort the installation right there.

Alternatively compare the SHA-1 checksum of the downloaded file with the checksum shown in the customer portal.

One user has reported continuing problems with the download, but neither I nor the users I asked to download the licensed version can reproduce the issue.
The user with the problem is from Canada so if there are Canadian users out there, please let me know if you have troubles as well.

Just downloaded the file without problems.
The installer starts normally, I stopped it when it put up the "modify, change or delete" window.
So no problems in this part of the world (Eastern part of The Netherlands).

Downloaded without problems.
SHA1 is correct.
Munich.

Thanks for the quick testing! Much appreciated  :)

Downloaded with NO problems here, too.   

Works here just fine (Czech Republic).

Works here fine.

The only thing, what I BELIEVE (not sure) is, that the download "line" (what normally does run to the right), was completely filled and there is no info about the estimated time.
(in the browser download info and in the download folder)
See attachement.

Quote from: sinus on September 06, 2016, 10:50:20 PM
The only thing, what I BELIEVE (not sure) is, that the download "line" (what normally does run to the right), was completely filled and there is no info about the estimated time.
(in the browser download info and in the download folder)

Yes, I noticed the same thing, but the file worked fine.

Quote from: sinus on September 06, 2016, 10:50:20 PM
Works here fine.

The only thing, what I BELIEVE (not sure) is, that the download "line" (what normally does run to the right), was completely filled and there is no info about the estimated time.
(in the browser download info and in the download folder)
See attachement.

That's normal when the browser cannot figure out the size of the download in advance.

Worked like a charm, very fast download this time, could open the app without a problem.
I just got a warning again that the application is not coming from a certified publisher. I remember we had this before.

Great to have the entire website on https now.
Thanks Mario.

QuoteI just got a warning again that the application is not coming from a certified publisher. I remember we had this before.

Where did you get that message from?
Your browser?
I don't even know what a certified publisher is. Certified by whom?

The download is protected and validated using my personal Microsoft Authenticode certificate. This is as safe and authentic as it can be.

I got it when I ran the installer.
I should re-phrase, wasn't precise. The message was something like ... this application is from an unknown publisher, do you want to install ... and the default action was 'No'.
I can re-download and run the installer again if you want me to to get the exact message.

When you right-click the file and open the Properties dialog, does Windows show my certificate? Is it shown as valid?

I just downloaded the file and when I run the installer and the Windows UAC prompt shows up, it shows my name as the verified publisher and also my certificate.
Not an unknown publisher.
It is unfortunately impossible to make a screen shot of the UAC prompt.

Try to clean up your TEMP folder, it may contain rubbish from other installs.
Sometimes the certificate shows up with a delay, e.g. when you install from a slow network connection.
Try to copy the file to the desktop before you run it.

No issues with download of 5.6.22; I didn't bother to try installing. Download seems to be faster than before, as noted by others (Colorado, USA).

File properties (Digital Signature Details) lists Mario as signer.

This is what I see.
If I tick the 'Unblock' field in the Properties I can run the installer without the Windows warning.

Cheers. Hartmut

Mario - the D/L went fine, but when I ran the file I got the attached "unknown publisher" popup message from Windows 10.

I deleted everything I could in my Temp folder (a couple of them were still in use by McAfee), tried running it again and got the same popup message.

I tried right-clicking on the file and telling to run as an administrator but got the same popup message.

I checked the "properties" on the file but while it showed you as the copyright owner on the details tab I could't find anything that talked about the certificate or digital signature or publisher as such.

I tried copying the file to the desktop and then running it, but got same popup message.

Didn't ever tell it to run anyway, as I didn't want it to install again, but I can do that if it would help.

I see that there are some reports about a Windows Smart Screen warning.
That is weird, Smart Screen is a Windows 10 mechanism.
On my PC (a brand new one, I am still configuring it) I run Win 10 Home.
Last weekend I installed IM 5.6.22 without encountering the Smart Screen warning, didn't see it either when I ran the test per your request.
I just checked the Smart Screen option on my machine, it is set to 'On'.
Don't know if this piece of information is of any help.......

Quote from: hro on September 07, 2016, 12:38:07 AM
This is what I see.
If I tick the 'Unblock' field in the Properties I can run the installer without the Windows warning.
Cheers. Hartmut

I just downloaded the file again. When I right-click to show the properties of the file and then switch to the Security tab, I see that the file has a valid certificate:

(https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=5854.0;attach=13232;image)

When I click on the details, I see the Details of my Symantec Authenticode certificate (which verifies that I'm me and costs me several hundred dollars every two years):

(https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=5854.0;attach=13234;image)

You should see the same.
And I develop and test IMatch 5 on Windows 10. I have never seen a smart screen warning...

Quote from: herman on September 07, 2016, 08:10:24 AM
I see that there are some reports about a Windows Smart Screen warning.
That is weird, Smart Screen is a Windows 10 mechanism.
On my PC (a brand new one, I am still configuring it) I run Win 10 Home.
Last weekend I installed IM 5.6.22 without encountering the Smart Screen warning, didn't see it either when I ran the test per your request.
I just checked the Smart Screen option on my machine, it is set to 'On'.
Don't know if this piece of information is of any help.......

Smart Screen can be bogus. Microsoft states states somewhere that the "SmartScreen warning is displayed even for signed applications until the certificate develops reputation". By this Microsoft means that they monitor applications installed on computers via their smart screen service and send data home to the MS servers. If an application is not installed tens of thousands of times, Smart Screen may display a warning still. All that works in favor of the big application vendors of course, another subtle feature to make the big vendors bigger.

What puzzles me is that SmartScreen seems to fail to detect the perfectly valid certificate in the installer. The installer has been created with Microsoft and InstallShield official tools and the certificate is properly embedded and valid.

Do the users with the SmartScreen warning see the certificate in the file (right-click in Explorer then "Digital Signatures"...?

Nope.  I don't even see the Digital Certificates tab,  see my screenshot above. It almost looks that Windosw treats that file completely different on my machine compared to yours.

Hartmut

Very strange. Did you try to Unblock the file (see the unblock option near the bottom of the dialog).

Yes I did.  After unblocking the  installer would run without the warning. But the cerificate tab wouldn't show either.

Download and install test OK for me in Guernsey, Channel Islands  :)

Quote from: hro on September 07, 2016, 11:16:44 AM
Yes I did.  After unblocking the  installer would run without the warning. But the cerificate tab wouldn't show either.

Can you verify the checksum of the file? You can use the free Microsoft FCIV tool for it:

https://support.microsoft.com/de-de/kb/841290

use it like

fciv.exe -sha1 imatch_5_6_22.exe

The checksum produced by this tool must match the checksum shown in the customer portal.

If the checksum is identical but Windows does not show the embedded certificate, something seems to be messed up on your system. A riddle only Microsoft can solve.

Yes I can do.  But I am traveling tomorrow,  so can only test it on Friday.

It's not urgent.

But I pay a lot of money for my Authenticode certificate each year, and it also requires extra effort in the product shipment workflow to sign and authenticate everything. I do all this especially to avoid such "unknown publisher" warnings. And of course for my commercial users who won't even allow a unsigned installer through their firewalls.

Mario, the download & install worked just fine for me (in Canada).

Regards

I tried to download imatch_5_6_22.exe 2 times: the first time it stopped at 63Mo, the second at 55Mo without error or warning !

Quote from: Mario on September 07, 2016, 08:56:07 AM

Do the users with the SmartScreen warning see the certificate in the file (right-click in Explorer then "Digital Signatures"...?

I do not get any sort of "Digital Signatures" tab or info when I right click and go through the "Properties" information (running Win 10 Pro).  My right-click window looks like the attached.  The "Security" tab shown in that Properties dialog box only displays a bunch of info about the admin accounts and permissions on my PC - nothing about the iMatch program itself or any digital signatures or certificates.  Is there another "Properties"-related place I should be looking for this info?


[EDIT] - I just tried going back to the first time I D/L'ed the file, and when I right click and do properties on it I do get a different dialog box that does have the "Digital Signature" tab/info.  I don't know why, but I guess that the fact that the second time I D/L'ed the file (for this test) a "(1)" was added to the file name seems to be being treated as some sort of modification to the file that causes a different "properties" box to open.  I'll try moving the old files out and D/L'ing the latest one again and see if that changes things.

[EDIT] - OK, I'm totally confused now.  I D/L'ed the file again after moving the old copies out, so it still has it's proper name, but now when I right click and check the properties I get the same, simple version of the Properties dialog box that I first attached, not the more detailed one that I get when I right click on the old copy I D/L'ed originally when this version came out.  When I right click on the originally-D/L'ed file, I get the digital signature info tab, shown on the second attachment hereto (and I've changed the name of that file but still get that info, so my guess about the second D/L having been renamed as being part of the problem seems to have been incorrect).  Oh, and trying to run the latest copy I D/L'ed still gives me the same SmartScreen warning.

The first dialog shows the "Unblock" option so Windows has this file blocked. Maybe that's a reason.

I have downloaded the file using my text user using Edge, Chrome and Firefox.
I downloaded into three different folders and even renamed the downloaded file to include today's date (changing the file name does not affect the validity of the file or the certificate).
I always see the Digital Certificate tab, on all three downloaded files.

I've also checked the downloaded files with Microsoft's official signtool (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8s9b9yaz(VS.80).aspx) using the

signtool verify /pa imatch_5_6_22.exe

command line. The file was verified successfully.

To be extra sure I used sysinternals sigcheck tool (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897441.aspx) to check the validity of the certificate embedded in the file. This test also showed a valid certificate - and thus an unmodified file.

To be on the extra safe side, I uploaded the file to virustotal.com (https://virustotal.com). Google not only checks if the file has any viruses but also check for a valid Authenticode certificate:

(https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=5854.0;attach=13240;image)

Click to enlarge.

This is as good as it gets. Safe and validated.

Quote from: Mario on September 07, 2016, 07:01:34 PM
The first dialog shows the "Unblock" option so Windows has this file blocked. Maybe that's a reason.

I assume that the "blocked" thing in the properties dialog box was probably the same thing that was causing SmartScreen to choke, so I unticked the blocked box in the properties screen and applied the change and closed the box.  I tried right clicking/properties again, thinking it might show me the more detailed version with the digital signature tab, but it still showed me the simpler version without that tab.  Then I tried running the file - I didn't get the SmartScreen blocking message this time, but I did get a different error message (see attached).  Clicking "ok" on that message just makes the error message go away and the install doesn't proceed.

So, I tried to D/L the file again - but the speed was so slow (about 1/4 what it had been before) that I canceled that D/L and started a new one.  That one went pretty quickly.  But rightclick/properties on this latest one also just shows me the simpler version without the digital signature tab/info, and trying to run the file (without unblocking it in Properties) gives me the same SmartScreen blockage.  This time, I told SmartScreen to go ahead and run the file anyway, and it gave me the same error message as above (see attached).

The downloaded file is incomplete, corrupted or has been tampered with.
Please check your system for potential virus problems.

This would also explain why the certificate does not show.
You should upload the downloaded file to www.virustotal.com to let it check. If it has been infected by something on your system, this should show it.

Quote from: Mario on September 07, 2016, 08:53:47 PM
The downloaded file is incomplete, corrupted or has been tampered with.
Please check your system for potential virus problems.

This would also explain why the certificate does not show.
You should upload the downloaded file to www.virustotal.com to let it check. If it has been infected by something on your system, this should show it.

Just ran a complete virus scan on my PC yesterday (w/McAfee) - no reported problems. Virustotal reports no virus/problems found with the latest iMatch file I D/L'ed above.  However, the SHA1 checksum they show is different from the one on the iMatch customer portal download page.

I'll try D/L'ing again.

[EDIT] - maybe some issue with my Chrome browser and downloading today?  All 3 of the last D/L attempts have resulted in different file sizes.  Trying it one more time, then going to try D/L'ing it with FireFox, just to see if that matters.

Do that. If the SHA-1 checksum of the does not match the f1e...586, it is incomplete or has been tampered with. I use three layers to ensure the validity of files: SHA1-1, Authenticode Certificate and the build-in routines in InstallShield. All seem to fail with your downloads, which is highly unusual.

Quote from: Mario on September 07, 2016, 09:22:41 PM
Do that. If the SHA-1 checksum of the does not match the f1e...586, it is incomplete or has been tampered with. I use three layers to ensure the validity of files: SHA1-1, Authenticode Certificate and the build-in routines in InstallShield. All seem to fail with your downloads, which is highly unusual.

Maybe there is something going on with my machine today - all the last 5 or 6 attempts (mix of Chrome and Firefox) have resulted in different size files being D/L'ed.

Gonna reboot and re-run virus scan and see if I can figure it out.

[EDIT] Don't know what to say at this point Mario - after rebooting, scanning my PC with both Windows Defender and McAfee, and updating both Chrome and FireFox, every time I try to D/L the file from the customer portal with either browser it fails.  No error messages or anything, but the D/L always stops after between about 16 and 38 MB as if it had finished properly, but obviously those D/L files were incomplete/corrupted.  But I then tried D/L'ing several other files from various other sites that I had previously D/L'ed and so still had valid copies to compare, several of which files were between 250 and 380 MB, and all those D/L's worked just fine and the resulting files D/L'ed matched the previous D/L copies and worked/installed just fine.  So, the only D/L problem I seem to be having at the moment is with this iMatch file.

In which country do you live?
Do you use a proxy sever? Downloads aborting at various sizes are usually caused by timeouts or a proxy server acting up.
Did you try to clear the cache of your browser (Shift+Del)? Browsers may reuse parts already downloaded and thus corrupting future downloads as well.
Did you try to temporarily disable virus checkers (only during the download)?

Quote from: Mario on September 08, 2016, 10:02:36 AM
In which country do you live?

USA (Georgia)

Quote from: Mario on September 08, 2016, 10:02:36 AM
Do you use a proxy sever? Downloads aborting at various sizes are usually caused by timeouts or a proxy server acting up.

No

Quote from: Mario on September 08, 2016, 10:02:36 AM
Did you try to temporarily disable virus checkers (only during the download)?

Yes - didn't help though.

Quote from: Mario on September 08, 2016, 10:02:36 AM
Did you try to clear the cache of your browser (Shift+Del)? Browsers may reuse parts already downloaded and thus corrupting future downloads as well.

Yes (in response to your reply - sorry I didn't think about doing that earlier) - that seems to have worked, at least for Chrome - just D/L'ed the file and it came out OK this time. 

Haven't tried it with FireFox yet, and I'm not sure why FireFox (which I hadn't used for several months before these tests) would have had a problem the first time it tried since it shouldn't have had anything relevant in its cache, but at least it's working now in Chrome. 

With " it came out OK this time.  " you mean that the file is complete and the checksum matches and the digital signature is also visible in the properties dialog?

Quote from: Mario on September 07, 2016, 11:37:23 AM

Quote from: hro on September 07, 2016, 11:16:44 AM
Yes I did.  After unblocking the  installer would run without the warning. But the cerificate tab wouldn't show either.

Can you verify the checksum of the file? You can use the free Microsoft FCIV tool for it:

https://support.microsoft.com/de-de/kb/841290

use it like

fciv.exe -sha1 imatch_5_6_22.exe

The checksum produced by this tool must match the checksum shown in the customer portal.

If the checksum is identical but Windows does not show the embedded certificate, something seems to be messed up on your system. A riddle only Microsoft can solve.

So, I just did that check and get a different checksum. See attached screenshots.
I've downloaded this file now 3 times, the download completed always without problems and was very fast. I didn't actually go ahead and installed it, but run the app until I got the Microsoft warning as reported above.

I have no idea. I don't ever recall such issues.

Is the checksum always the same?
Does virustotal report anything unusual when you upload the file?
Can you upload _your_ file somwhere I can download it?

The downloader code is the same we used for almost 3 years on the old download center. Nothing changed.
How can a file have a different checksum but the digital signature is OK and InstallShield does not break when you run the Installer?

Quote from: Mario on September 09, 2016, 12:11:46 AM
I have no idea. I don't ever recall such issues.

Is the checksum always the same?
Does virustotal report anything unusual when you upload the file?
Can you upload _your_ file somwhere I can download it?

The downloader code is the same we used for almost 3 years on the old download center. Nothing changed.
How can a file have a different checksum but the digital signature is OK and InstallShield does not break when you run the Installer?

The checksum appears to be always the same
I ran Virustotal and that came back clean. See screenshot.
I email you a link where you can download the file separately.

I did a few more tests:

1. Downloaded the 5.6.20 version, experienced exactly the same, i.e. unknown publisher etc.
2. I went ahead and tried to install 5.6.22 (remember, this is already installed on my machine). The installer came back with an error, see attached screenshot.

Quote from: Mario on September 08, 2016, 04:33:33 PM
With " it came out OK this time.  " you mean that the file is complete and the checksum matches and the digital signature is also visible in the properties dialog?

Well, not sure about the checksum - I saw that the file was the same size on my disk as the original one I D/L'ed when it was released, and I saw that it gave me the more detailed properties screen with the digital signature info, but I did not check the checksum.  I tried to do that just now, but when I tried to have Virustotal check it and give me the checksum like it did before, it kept telling me the file had already been scanned by them before (even after I changed the name of the file to try to get it to look at this specific copy) and kept giving me the checksum that was wrong/different like before.  I'm trying to find where you gave another way of checking the checksum, but I haven't found it yet.

BTW - I just noticed that although the properties box is the more detailed one with the digital signature info, it's still telling me it's been blocked and giving me the choice to unblock it.  (But when I try to run it (without unblocking it in the properties box) I don't get the SmartScreen blocking message - it starts the installer routine like I assume it should).

Quote from: hro on September 09, 2016, 01:38:57 AM
I did a few more tests:

1. Downloaded the 5.6.20 version, experienced exactly the same, i.e. unknown publisher etc.
2. I went ahead and tried to install 5.6.22 (remember, this is already installed on my machine). The installer came back with an error, see attached screenshot.

This clearly indicates that your download is incomplete or corrupted.

Quote from: Panther on September 09, 2016, 01:49:03 AM

Quote from: Mario on September 08, 2016, 04:33:33 PM
With " it came out OK this time.  " you mean that the file is complete and the checksum matches and the digital signature is also visible in the properties dialog?

Well, not sure about the checksum - I saw that the file was the same size on my disk as the original one I D/L'ed when it was released, and I saw that it gave me the more detailed properties screen with the digital signature info, but I did not check the checksum.  I tried to do that just now, but when I tried to have Virustotal check it and give me the checksum like it did before, it kept telling me the file had already been scanned by them before (even after I changed the name of the file to try to get it to look at this specific copy) and kept giving me the checksum that was wrong/different like before.  I'm trying to find where you gave another way of checking the checksum, but I haven't found it yet.

BTW - I just noticed that although the properties box is the more detailed one with the digital signature info, it's still telling me it's been blocked and giving me the choice to unblock it.  (But when I try to run it (without unblocking it in the properties box) I don't get the SmartScreen blocking message - it starts the installer routine like I assume it should).

Virustotal.com identifies uploaded files by their checksum and thus knows if a file has already been uploaded and tested. Their checksum will vary from the SHA-1 checkum I list next to the download.

The checksum is not really needed because the digital signature in the file has the same purpose: 1. To guarantee that the file is complete and unmodified and 2. that it has been created and published by me. InstallShield also creates another checksum and checks it when extracting the MSI file before installing. If the checkums fail, InstallShield shows the message shown in the post above.

That a file has been blocked on your PC because it has been downloaded from the Internet is a Windows feature that kicks in when you download 'active' files (executable files, installers) from the Internet. Microsoft wants to protect you from accidentally download and running a potentially harmful file.

Quote from: hro on September 09, 2016, 12:36:31 AM

Quote from: Mario on September 09, 2016, 12:11:46 AM
I have no idea. I don't ever recall such issues.

Is the checksum always the same?
Does virustotal report anything unusual when you upload the file?
Can you upload _your_ file somwhere I can download it?

The downloader code is the same we used for almost 3 years on the old download center. Nothing changed.
How can a file have a different checksum but the digital signature is OK and InstallShield does not break when you run the Installer?

The checksum appears to be always the same
I ran Virustotal and that came back clean. See screenshot.
I email you a link where you can download the file separately.

Did you get the file link I emailed you?

Quote from: Mario on September 09, 2016, 08:45:26 AM

Quote from: hro on September 09, 2016, 01:38:57 AM
I did a few more tests:

1. Downloaded the 5.6.20 version, experienced exactly the same, i.e. unknown publisher etc.
2. I went ahead and tried to install 5.6.22 (remember, this is already installed on my machine). The installer came back with an error, see attached screenshot.

This clearly indicates that your download is incomplete or corrupted.

I have exactly the same error message when i try to execute the install file.

I cannot get complete download of 6.22 or 6.20 exe file. The download finish without error but the file i get has never the full size as indicated on the dowload html page. I tried with Firefox (21 or 45) with/without McAfee activated, cleared the cache, rebooted my system, ... without any change.

I have no problems with others download: zip, exe or images are already fully downloaded.

I have downloaded the file successfully from Germany, the UK and, via proxy, from the US, Canada and even Australia. The file was always complete, checksum OK, InstallShield happy to install. I used Firefox, Chrome, Edge, IE and FF Mobile and Chrome mobile on Android for these tests. Looks good so far.

I've even downloaded the file over umpteen hops using the TOR network, also successful.
Since this code is the same used for the old download center and only the domain has changed (and a new SSL certifcate is used) I wonder why a few users have problems downloading a single 100 MB file.

There is nothing I can do, fix, change or modify on the server. It just streams down the file into the browser. And if the file download is incomplete, the browser is at least responsible for displaying an error message. If the server fails or the download aborts in the middle or something. It's not that only a few "end" bytes are missing, one user reported that the download starts somewhere in the middle, at 30 MB or so.

Leider kann ich das nicht in Englisch formulieren.

Bei mir ist der Download auch 2x unvollständig gewesen, hatte also nicht die vollen MB. Dabei ist mir ist aufgefallen, dass in Firefox der Downloadpfeil seine Farbe nicht ändert ( aber nur bei IMatch ). Somit weiß man nicht, ob der Download beendet ist oder noch läuft. Nun könnte es sein, dass manche ( und auch ich ) während des Downloads nachschauen, was los ist und den Download unbewusst abbrechen.

Ich habe beim 3. Mal den Download eine Weile 'orgeln' lassen und dann war alles ok.

Quote from: hro on September 09, 2016, 08:57:37 AM
Did you get the file link I emailed you?

Yes. I've downloaded the file. It has only 91.521.024 bytes (instead of  92.812.720 bytes) and thus is missing some data. Incomplete. Hence no install or valid digital certificate.

The Apache server serving the licensed file (and the photools.com web site and this community) is using chunked transfer. This means it transmits data as soon at is ready, splitting large images or downloads into multiple parts. Much faster that way and standard these days. May this is what is causing your browser problems?

I'm in Canada so I was curious and tried the download; no problem. Hash matched, and installer opened. I didn't see anything odd. Chrome.

Quote from: jonz on September 09, 2016, 04:09:45 PM
I'm in Canada so I was curious and tried the download; no problem. Hash matched, and installer opened. I didn't see anything odd. Chrome.

Thanks for trying. So far, in the past two years and on only a very few occasions where users reported problems with downloads they were from Canada or Australia. I guess that in some remote areas of these countries the bandwidth may be low or connections shaky.

Last week I had a new IMatch user from CA who tried to download IMatch for more than a day. No luck. We exchanged many emails, but to no avail. The next day he downloaded the file at a his clients computer in less than 2 minutes. Same city. Just another ISP...

Quote from: HaWo on September 09, 2016, 03:18:47 PM
Leider kann ich das nicht in Englisch formulieren.

Bei mir ist der Download auch 2x unvollständig gewesen, hatte also nicht die vollen MB. Dabei ist mir ist aufgefallen, dass in Firefox der Downloadpfeil seine Farbe nicht ändert ( aber nur bei IMatch ). Somit weiß man nicht, ob der Download beendet ist oder noch läuft. Nun könnte es sein, dass manche ( und auch ich ) während des Downloads nachschauen, was los ist und den Download unbewusst abbrechen.

Ich habe beim 3. Mal den Download eine Weile 'orgeln' lassen und dann war alles ok.

The browser cannot know the download size, hence it cannot show a percentage bar. The Apache server farm photools.com runs on uses so-called "chunked" transfer. This means that it delivers content as soon as it has been GZipped. It does not first GZIP the entire download (100 MB) and then starts sending it to the browser. This would cause very slow responses and also a lot of memory consumption on the server side. The negative side effect of this efficient transfer method is that Apache strips the "context length" header and thus the browser cannot know how large the file is. The browser just keeps receiving until the server sends the "finished" signal.

This is standard behavior for large file downloads on servers which use GZIP to save bandwidth.

Quote from: Mario on September 09, 2016, 03:45:41 PM

Quote from: hro on September 09, 2016, 08:57:37 AM
Did you get the file link I emailed you?

Yes. I've downloaded the file. It has only 91.521.024 bytes (instead of  92.812.720 bytes) and thus is missing some data. Incomplete. Hence no install or valid digital certificate.

The Apache server serving the licensed file (and the photools.com web site and this community) is using chunked transfer. This means it transmits data as soon at is ready, splitting large images or downloads into multiple parts. Much faster that way and standard these days. May this is what is causing your browser problems?

I think I've got some clues now.

Today, I downloaded from my home PC and there were now problems. The file size is correct, I can see the digital signature and the installer starts with now warnings and installs properly. Norton Internet Security gives it a big tick as well. GREAT.

I downloaded the problem file at work behind the corporate firewall. In both cases I used Google Chrome.
So I conclude our company's firewall must be the problem. It is an industry standard Sophos UTM appliance. Having said this, it is still a bit concerning as I have never had any problem whatsoever with other software downloads. They all work. I am thinking of corporate IMatch users who may not have the option of downloading from an alternative location.

Cheers. Hartmut

Quote from: Mario on September 09, 2016, 04:36:59 PM

Quote from: jonz on September 09, 2016, 04:09:45 PM
I'm in Canada so I was curious and tried the download; no problem. Hash matched, and installer opened. I didn't see anything odd. Chrome.

Thanks for trying. So far, in the past two years and on only a very few occasions where users reported problems with downloads they were from Canada or Australia. I guess that in some remote areas of these countries the bandwidth may be low or connections shaky.

Last week I had a new IMatch user from CA who tried to download IMatch for more than a day. No luck. We exchanged many emails, but to no avail. The next day he downloaded the file at a his clients computer in less than 2 minutes. Same city. Just another ISP...

I am also downunder in New Zealand. We have 200Mbs download speed over fibre. In contrast some places I visit in good old Germany are still struggling with 5Mbs ADSL and abysmal mobile connectivity  8) 8) 8) 8)
Don't take seriously, just a bit cheaky.

Quote from: hro on September 09, 2016, 11:50:02 PM
So I conclude our company's firewall must be the problem. It is an industry standard Sophos UTM appliance. Having said this, it is still a bit concerning as I have never had any problem whatsoever with other software downloads. They all work. I am thinking of corporate IMatch users who may not have the option of downloading from an alternative location.
Cheers. Hartmut

It may just that your firewall does not like the route or maybe the anti-virus in your firewall or network breaks the file.
Is the download very slow when you download via your company network? Maybe a timeout issue? My server limits the bandwidth per download to ~ 4 MB/s to conserve resources and ensure QoS for all users.

Maybe you can ask your IT folks to check what the problem is. I'm happy to improve my servers, but so far I could not found any problem. The code that manages the download of licensed products is pretty simple and in use for three years now. It's just that I recently moved everything over to a more powerful and fully managed server running Apache web server under 'Nix. Load and stress tests are all green, no errors in the log files, ...

For all users who had download problems...

I've looked again into the code that manages the download. I found no error but I increased the MB/s setting so downloads run faster. Check it out, thanks.


Bad News...

As I've just learned, it may be that the super-duper new server contract (the server which now runs photools.com, this community, the customer portal etc.) has a small quirk - the hosting company limits all PHP scripts to 2 minutes runtime maximum (https://www.photools.com/community/Smileys/photools/sign55.gif). Of course such vital info is not part of the flashy presentations or the "What you get for your money" lists on the web site. They explain it to you when you run into it.

A 2 minute script timeout is not a problem for the domain or this community. A typical execution time for scripts is a few milliseconds to maybe 5 seconds.

But it can be a problem for the download functionality. Usually the download takes between 20 seconds or maybe a minute on slow lines.
But users with exceptionally slow connections who need more than 2 minutes to download may run into problems because the server just drops the connection and stops the script from running.

(https://www.photools.com/community/Smileys/photools/sign07.gif)

I'm waiting for feedback from the hosting company but it seems that I need to move (again) to another contract which allows me to change the script timeout from 2 minutes to 10. This costs extra money (several times as much as the new contract) and (Gosh I hope not) that I need to move everything again to yet another server. This would mean that last two weeks were totally lost time...only some experience gathered, but the rest in the bin.

IMatch 5.7 is finished and ready for download. I'm not sure if I should announce and release it yet when some users may have trouble downloading it...

For what it's worth, this (the timeout) may not be a totally new problem. A few years ago (during the IMatch 5 beta, I believe) I had some issues with slow & failed downloads, using a cable modem in Colorado. After repeated attempts, I would eventually get a successful download. The problems seemed (from my end) to be pretty random, and after a while I had no subsequent issues with downloads. I haven't thought about this since (because no problems) but there may have been a timeout in play at the server end at the time, combined with some kind of random internet delays/timeouts/slowdowns between server and client ends (local download speeds at these times were OK according to speedtest.net). Unfortunately, this isn't germane to the current problem, but it does say something about the nondeterministic nature of the internet.

Looks like the timeout thing probably was involved in the problem I was having with my first few attempts for this testing as well.  I just tried it again (after clearing my cache again, like I had done before when it finally worked for me last time) - D/L speed was rather low for some reason and the D/L stopped right after the 2-minute mark - the incomplete file I got was only about 28MB or so.

[EDIT] Not sure what's going on today with the speeds today - although my Internet connection seems to be testing at a pretty steady 12-13 Mbps, the last 3 or 4 times I've tried to D/L this file from the new portal the speeds are down below 300-350 KB/s (often sub-200 KB/s) and the D/L's are stopping at the 2 minute mark.

Looking at the log file (which unfortunately does not show aborted downloads due to timeouts), the last 20 downloads from today took between 16.1 and 111.6 seconds, with an average of about 40 seconds. Slowest download was by owen... with 111.6s (Canada), followed by  fred32.... (USA?) with 95.4 s.

So it's not that bad, really.

I can download the file in 16.1 seconds, because I have a fast internet connection and the server farm is hosted in a German data center.

Let's see what the hosting company comes up with today. I think I will roll out IMatch 5.7 today because so many users wait for it.

I just attempted to download 5.7.2 and it downloads but the file is only 35mb instead of 89.9 so it's a corrupt file.  Tried downloading three times with Firefox and had the same result every time with file sizes ranging from 33.8 to 36.8mb.

No issues with AntiVirus that I'm aware of, I'll do more checking and try downloading with IE to see if that works.

Do you have a very slow connection? If your download takes more than two minutes, we have a problem...

No, it's never been slow before and I've never had problems downloading previous versions on the your other server.  On the other hand I didn't time the download, I can though if you want.

I take that back, it must be slow this morning.  I just timed another download and it stopped after 2:05 with a file size of 36mb.

That's the problem I figured out on Sunday. Apparently the hosting company stops every script (including the PHP script that feeds the licensed version into your browser) after two minutes. They forgot to mention that detail when I signed the new contract and now I'm a bit dead in the water - waiting for them to come up with a solution.

It affects only the download and only for users who have a very slow connection. Most uses download the file in about 35 to 40 seconds. The best download today was 11 seconds. If your connection is slow and you need more than 2 minutes you'll have to wait for a couple of days before I have this somehow fixed.

I apologize for that, but this came to me as a nasty surprise as well.
Typical script runtimes are a few milliseconds to a few seconds for very demanding tasks. And i have never had to wait for 2 minutes for a download so I never ran into this problem before.

Thanks Mario.  No problem for me to wait a few days, I've been gone for a month anyway.
Good luck in finding a solution.

Just tried to D/L the new version - speed started out at over 1,000 KB/s but then slowed down to around 150-250, and eventually timed out at 2 minutes.

Speed tests showing my D/L speed generally pretty steady around 20 Mbps this morning, so I don't really understand why the speed for this D/L drops so low as to cause a problem with the timing.

The last download was on 17:45:56 (now its 18:04 German time) and was completed in 29 seconds (to US), the one just minutes before in 41 s (to UK).
I limit the bandwidth again per download to 4 MB / second.

A download via curl reports a download speed of 3.5 MB/sec on the average.

No problem here (Colorado) with 5.7.2 download or running install. Download took ~30 seconds.

Not sure why the new site doesn't like me.  Just tried again and, like all the other tries today, the D/L speed hovers around 150-250 KB/s and it times out at 2 minutes with an incomplete file.  Just ran speed test again and my ISP connection D/L speed is still showing solid at around 18 Mbps, and I just D/L'ed a 350 MB file from nVidia's driver site, at speeds that stayed around 1,800-1,900 KB/s, and it completed just fine.

Quote from: Mario on September 10, 2016, 08:14:53 AM

Quote from: hro on September 09, 2016, 11:50:02 PM
So I conclude our company's firewall must be the problem. It is an industry standard Sophos UTM appliance. Having said this, it is still a bit concerning as I have never had any problem whatsoever with other software downloads. They all work. I am thinking of corporate IMatch users who may not have the option of downloading from an alternative location.
Cheers. Hartmut

It may just that your firewall does not like the route or maybe the anti-virus in your firewall or network breaks the file.
Is the download very slow when you download via your company network? Maybe a timeout issue? My server limits the bandwidth per download to ~ 4 MB/s to conserve resources and ensure QoS for all users.

Maybe you can ask your IT folks to check what the problem is. I'm happy to improve my servers, but so far I could not found any problem. The code that manages the download of licensed products is pretty simple and in use for three years now. It's just that I recently moved everything over to a more powerful and fully managed server running Apache web server under 'Nix. Load and stress tests are all green, no errors in the log files, ...

I realise there are more recent posts re. downloading 5.7.2, but I thought my comments are more relevant here:

So I downloaded 5.7.2 from my office connection again (Sophos UTM firewall, etc.)
- The download completed without any problem in about 1:30 min.
- This time the Digital Signature showed correctly in the file.
- The file size is not exactly as you listed on the download page (mine is 89.8 MB, 94,228,696 bytes).
- The installer displayed no errors and installed 5.7.2 without a problem.
- The installer said that components need to be installed and that Windows needs to restart after the install. However
    I did not restart and IMatch works fine.

Knowing that the test download you requested (5.6.22) did not succeed a few days ago from my office connection, did you change something now on your server side? In all cases I had perfect download speed (>100 Mbs) and the download times were always under 2 min.

Anyway, this is pretty good news to report.

QuoteThe installer said that components need to be installed and that Windows needs to restart after the install. However

Windows Installer thinks that on some machines. This is fully automatic. IMatch comes with the latest set of Microsoft Runtime DLLs and when Windows Installer finds older merge modules it will update them and ask for a reboot, because these are shared components and used by many applications. It's better to do a rebbot, just to be on the safe side. Windows Installer sometimes works in mysterious ways, and I have no control over this.

I have not changed anything on the server. Yesterday I've experimented with the throttling (allowed temporarily for higher download rates per user) but I'm back to 4 MB/s max. per user to reduce overall server load. On normal connections this should allow the download in about one minute for users, without putting too much stress on the server when many users are downloading at the same time (which happens often when there are new releases).

Quote from: Panther on September 12, 2016, 09:17:03 PM
Not sure why the new site doesn't like me.  Just tried again and, like all the other tries today, the D/L speed hovers around 150-250 KB/s and it times out at 2 minutes with an incomplete file.  Just ran speed test again and my ISP connection D/L speed is still showing solid at around 18 Mbps, and I just D/L'ed a 350 MB file from nVidia's driver site, at speeds that stayed around 1,800-1,900 KB/s, and it completed just fine.

This is surely not the server or the hosting company. The data center hosting photools.com is one of Europe's biggest, connected with multiple redundant backbones to the world.

Run a

tracert photools.com

from a command line window (DOS box) to see how many hops your PC needs and how the connection speed is, if there are timeouts etc.

Just for comparison, here's a tracert run from Colorado done a few minutes ago; my (successful) download yesterday took less than a minute.

This looks OK to me. For this distance, the ping times are normal.

I'm also having trouble with connection dropping when doewnloading...
Attached is the ping

I'm not at home but a 162 Mb Nikon codec file downloaded ok.

It's not urgent but I thought to add my 5 cents!

Aubrey.

Quote from: Mario on September 13, 2016, 08:10:56 AM

Quote from: Panther on September 12, 2016, 09:17:03 PM
Not sure why the new site doesn't like me.  Just tried again and, like all the other tries today, the D/L speed hovers around 150-250 KB/s and it times out at 2 minutes with an incomplete file.  Just ran speed test again and my ISP connection D/L speed is still showing solid at around 18 Mbps, and I just D/L'ed a 350 MB file from nVidia's driver site, at speeds that stayed around 1,800-1,900 KB/s, and it completed just fine.

This is surely not the server or the hosting company. The data center hosting photools.com is one of Europe's biggest, connected with multiple redundant backbones to the world.

Run a

tracert photools.com

from a command line window (DOS box) to see how many hops your PC needs and how the connection speed is, if there are timeouts etc.

Hmm - just tried to run the trace per the above but all I get are a series of "request timed out" messages (after what may be 3 hops - not sure if that's what those little asterisks mean).

I did finally manage to successfully D/L the file last night (around 1:30 AM ET USA) on my second attempt at that time - the first one almost worked but stopped after 2 minutes at about 80MB, and the second try worked.

Not sure if it's a time of day thing, or maybe some issue with the browser not liking the chunked D/L approach? (is there any sort of browser setting to make that method work better?)

Just tried to D/L it again just now, but speeds are down around 100-150KB/s and it's timing out.  But my speed test is still showing my general ISP connection D/L speed at 18Mbps.  Don't know what to say.

Quote from: Panther on September 14, 2016, 01:43:35 AM
Hmm - just tried to run the trace per the above but all I get are a series of "request timed out" messages (after what may be 3 hops - not sure if that's what those little asterisks mean).
...
Just tried to D/L it again just now, but speeds are down around 100-150KB/s and it's timing out.  But my speed test is still showing my general ISP connection D/L speed at 18Mbps.  Don't know what to say.

Try posting a tracert output; might help Mario to see the specifics.

Quote from: jch2103 on September 14, 2016, 05:23:56 AM

Quote from: Panther on September 14, 2016, 01:43:35 AM
Hmm - just tried to run the trace per the above but all I get are a series of "request timed out" messages (after what may be 3 hops - not sure if that's what those little asterisks mean).
...
Just tried to D/L it again just now, but speeds are down around 100-150KB/s and it's timing out.  But my speed test is still showing my general ISP connection D/L speed at 18Mbps.  Don't know what to say.

Try posting a tracert output; might help Mario to see the specifics.

There is no output as such - it looks like the following over and over again (just tried it again and got the same result):

1    *     *      *       request timed out.
2    *     *      *       request timed out.
3 etc.


The I close the window.

Funny thing is, that at this time of night (again about 1:30 AM ET), I tried the D/L again and speeds stayed up around 1,800-1,900 KB/s and the D/L completed just fine (right size, digital signature info in place, etc.).  Just like last night.  Very odd.

If Windows cannot trace a route, your network connection is disconnected or some intermediate device or hub fails. Usually you should get at least a trace to your dial-up node or the servers of your ISP...

I've work on this last night and I have found a quite good solution.

Please see https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=5886.msg40633#msg40633 for full details.

Let me know below if you have been successful.