I knew this was going to derail into the beaten mp3 and movies discussion. Sorry, software doesn't have anything to do with this, and even less software for a niche market, were we don't have any other way of supporting us. Musicians can become popular with pirated mp3 and charge lot of money for live shows, movies have multiple sources of income, theaters, tv, dvd, bluray, netflix, webtv, advertising and even merchandising, software doesn't have any of that, and we can't use piracy as a way to create a de-facto standard on the market, something that most major software publishers did in the past.

Nono, you misunderstood me, I wasn't INTENDING going that direction. It was simple saying that everyone has something pirated on their computer, no matter what it is. It all stands what you say.Anyway, wish you a lot of luck with this in the future.

Aerosoft torrent over 1 million results

That kinds of explains why they moved from the non-protection stance they had in the past, that handling a protection system was too expensive for the benefits in piracy reduction, versus their new approach, which resulted in their recent introduction of a new DRM system they designed.

Much as I am among those refusing to install this software (even though I have purchsed some), I am almost in awe of the way Umberto has conducted himself in this thread. A great example indeed.Until, that, I see statements like this;

I'm beginning to suspect some are more opposed to our protection system compared to others, only because it works too well...

I think that's perhaps a step to far.

Much as I am among those refusing to install this software (even though I have purchsed some), I am almost in awe of the way Umberto has conducted himself in this thread. A great example indeed.

Thank you for noticing.

Until, that, I see statements like this; I think that's perhaps a step to far.

Perhaps you are right, and I apologize for it but, it's basically two days straight I'm replying to all sort of posts, and I'm trying to be precise and polite, not using my native language, and in the meantime, I also updated a scenery (there's a new patch for the Hawaii on our site, released today), and that might been stressful.I'll If I recall your last post on our forum, you were having issues loading the Addon Manager. Do you still have it installed now ? Does it work now ? Have you removed it because it didn't ? Perhaps you might help testing some changes I would like to try, but I need someone that had/have problems.

You explain how to overcome the problem but not why your downloads trigger user's antivirus applications when other downloads don't.

Other downloads do - I've had to mark various Flight1 and FlightZone files as safe in order to keep my A/V happy. Any file can trigger an alert if its bit pattern fits certain templates or heuristics in an A/V scanner. As a developer I've seen McAfee trigger when an executable had a version change and was recompiled. I know the alert was false because I wrote the code!DJ

OMG DJ, you mean that every AV isn't 100% accurate in every software environment? What a concept! Too bad some don't understand that!!

Ok Mike I am Fabrizio I have create Fort lauderdale and I will fix the jetway problem.So soon there will be an update, is there anything left on KFLL that you think we must fix?could you reply in the FSDT forum under the KFLL section, please?Fabrizio

Done and done, thanks!

This is very reasonable, what kind of prompts do you think could improved ? During the installation, or inside the actual program ? Some users would like to have more prompts, but some wouldn't.For example, we have a prompt that notifies the user he has an outdated scenery and suggest to download the latest version, which according to your suggestion, it's "in their face", because it appears at every flight sim start, so it's can't be missed. But some complained about being intrusive so, it's difficult to balance between "in your face" and "intrusive"...Maybe we could change it and let it appear only if the user enters in the scenery area, and not at every Flight sim start ?

To take this thread as example. Perhaps during the install process of product A, you can alert the user to an updated piece for product B and ask if he wants to install it. If you clearly describe what the update is and for what product, the user will most likely say yes. So the end result is the same, but at least the user was explained exactly what happened and given the option. I think this will definitely reduce confusion and give users more piece of mind.As for outdated scenery prompts, I believe they are good things and personally, I'll update immediately. But for those who won't for a variety of reasons, why not give them the option to remind them later. This is a feature of many programs with updates or prompts to register, etc... Would you like to <insert relevant question>? Yes. Or... Remind me in x days. Optionally, you could add No. But if you believe it better from an issue and support perspective, leave it out and give them a couple of different day options instead, like remind me in 3, 5, 7, 10 days. Or something to that extent. It'll keep reminding them, but at least not every sim start. Eventually I believe people will update, but you gave them the idea that they did it when it was convenient for them.I think most reservations are purely psychological, the art is to package it in such a way that the end result is the same, but the way you get there is more user oriented.:(

OMG DJ, you mean that every AV isn't 100% accurate in every software environment? What a concept!

Sad, but true... :( Not only that, but the various A/V companies don't adhere to a common standard!DJ :(

I thought that post was quite self-explanatory: I've explained why the Flight1 module could trigger a false positive, and I've think to have clearly explained also the reasons why this is happening with Flight1, because they are very similar to our own, not just the workaround.

You expained how anti-virus software works but not why your downloads are far more likely to trigger a false positive than other downloads. I download daily and can't remember the last time I got a virus warning. What is it about your downloads?

Umberto - Bravo-Zulu (good job) in this thread - very proffesional. I have all your FSDT sceneries and enjoy all of them. Havnig just bought the FlightBeamStudios KSFO, it left me wondering if my AddonManager was up-to-date or not.Addon-Manger suggestion - Allow me a version checker, maybe from the FSX addon-menu whereby I can immediately tell if I have the latest addon-manager available. I'm a little bit old-school so an automated push-me button to check status would be fine, but I personnaly would also like a currently installed version number of the addon manger visable in that same menu/button. On the host-side (main FSDT website - front page) a version identifier of the latest addon-manager available. I understand I could just download it anyway to check but I'm not a fan of that meathod - think driver control and version identification.Also, I might suggest during the install - a tree like display of what all will be installed and if it must be installed, have it greyed-out and permently checked. The tree should list any subcoomponents besides the scenery itself. I'm thinking something like the MS Office installer where you can enable or diable some of the features options, but not all of them (which you must accept or it won't install).Otherwise, your add-on manager has been well thought out and not too intrusive (Sony DRM comes to mind). It really hasn't been a much of a problem for me.And to those who have Antivirus confilict issues, do yourself a big favor and go get ESET NOD32 AV. Best there is for gaming. :( Now, I agree with the one of the recent previous posts - stop waisting your time here and get back to KLAX!!! :(

After reading the last 6 pages of this post. I have a couple of things to say.Umberto has been 100% professional and that is why I will continue to buy his products.FSDTs add-on manager to me seems like a very very good tool and protection service. It even has the options to change whats inside your fsx.cfg. I also like the fact that when you register your serial code, it asks you time after time that you are sure this is what you want to do. I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that users don't know whats going on in their system and what the addon manager is doing. Its also funny to see people saying they are so offended that the installers of certain programs are installing things without them knowing what the files are and do. In essence these users must know every single file that any installer is putting on their HD. If they didn't they would be angry. I know for a fact that I don't know what half the dlls and other mumbo jumbo is that gets installed on my HD when I first install another game. Another thing that the add-on manger is good for is that since it does automatic updates, everyone's software is current. That means FSDT and other companies dont have to deal with people asking for support when their version on their PC is two versions old. Those people are usually the same ones who complain because their product even needed updates in the first place. FSDT are making stand up products and I will continue to support them and pay their way.

Umberto,I just caught this drama very late. And after trying to read through everything, I would like to pubicly commend you for the way you handled yourself. That was alot of typing man! Well done with your open, honest and very thorough explanations!Tom,Just to touch on a point you made, again there appears to be some confusion with our (QualityWings) support system.I didn't task you to register on our forums just so you could sift through topics to find an answer.I simply stated that requests for Tech Support via the contact form wasn't the way to obtain support for our products (as it states on the contact form page).My exact words was:Our Support system requires that you are a member on our forums, and within 8-24 hours (often times sooner) you have access to a restricted area. The Licensed area insures that true paying customers receive proper support and can ask about and research problems. Of the 9 Development Team members, 6 of us routinely monitor the forums throughout the day and if we are not available, our Beta testers often attempt to get you going. In many cases, the QualityWings community also offers support.

About antivirus, I've just made a quick test on http://virustotal.com, which allows to send a file and scan it with 41 different antivirus engines at the same time, and I have to say I'm quite surprised by the results, I really thought we fared much worse, apparently antivirus are improving.Addon Manager 2.8.0.2 for FSX ( bglmanx.dll ) - reported ZERO virus alerts.Couatl ( couatl.exe ) - reported 1 positive, from the Vipra engineAddon Manager for FS9 ( bglman.dll ) - reported ZERO virus alertsFSUIPC 3.9.8 for FS9 - reported 1 positives, from McAfeeFSUIPC 4.6.0 for FSX - reported ZERO virus alertsFlight1 v3 ( flt1chk3.dll ) - reported 2 positives from McAfee GW edition and PrevxFlight1 v4 ( flt1chk4.dll ) - reported 6 positives from McAfee GW edition, CAT-Quickheal, Comodo, TrendMicro, TrendMicro-House call and virus BusterI have to say I wasn't expecting those results, I thought we would fare much worse instead, we only have a single positive from an not very popular engine. Flight1's module clearly has more issues with antivirus, especially because McAfee is used a lot.Of course, these are ALL false positives! I'm not implying in any way any of those modules are threats or are doing something dangerous, but I wonder why we get some many users reports with problems with antivirus, when most of them seems to be ok, perhaps many users are still using older version of their A/V ??And I have to admit I must have been a victim of the "perception" myself: it was a while since I did this test, and we used to fare much worse in the past, which is why I'm so worried about antivirus, but it doesn't seem to be the case anymore now.

On the reccomendation of the wonderfull folks over at Malwarebytes, I installed the free version of Avira and have never had a single problem, or infection. I gave up on the 'big' AV's long ago, they are way too invasive.

We'll see how long it takes for some certain people to dispute your results! And then ask why, why why............ over and over again.Edit:There is one of them now!(Not you Jay)