Updates and downloads

• How to update to a new version
• Older versions
• Portable and installer versions
• An antivirus says a SoftPerfect product is malware

How to update to a new version

To update any SoftPerfect product, download the latest version and install it over the one you have.

If you have a licence for the product, first check in its About window how long your update period lasts. Your licence key does not work with versions released after your update period. In that case, renew your licence first, then install the latest version and enter the new licence key.

For a free product, just install the new version over the old one. If anything else is needed, the installer will tell you.

Older versions

Our website only offers the latest version of each product. This avoids confusion, stops people running into problems we have already fixed, and gives the best compatibility with the latest operating system updates.

Every licence key e-mail says that we do not keep old versions. You may keep using an older version if you wish, but then you must keep copies of all the files you will need.

Some other websites, such as FileHippo.com, offer older versions of many programs. We cannot guarantee that files from other websites are safe and unchanged, and we do not support software downloaded from them. If you download one of our programs from another website, at least check its digital signature to protect yourself from fake or modified files.

There is a safer and better option: renew your licence at a discount, which every SoftPerfect customer can do, and use the latest version.

Portable and installer versions

Some of our products come in two versions: portable and installer.

• Portable: the program on its own, ready to run. You can put it in any folder, on a USB drive or other removable media, and start it from there. It keeps its settings in its own folder and usually changes nothing in the system, so if you copy the folder somewhere else, your settings come with it. To remove it, close the program and delete its folder.
• Installer: a setup program that installs the software. It puts the program in a folder (usually Program Files), adds shortcuts and an uninstaller, and keeps your settings in your user profile. It can also add parts to the system, such as drivers, that make extra features possible; a portable version cannot do this, which is the main advantage of the installer. On the other hand, an installed program usually cannot be moved by just copying its folder.

Unless you have a reason to use the portable version, use the installer to get all the features.

An antivirus says a SoftPerfect product is malware

Why it happens

Sometimes users tell us that their antivirus found malware in one of our products. This is called a false positive: a security product reports a file as dangerous when it is in fact clean and safe. For example:

• Network Scanner may be reported as “NetScanner”, “NetScan”, “NetTool” or similar. Network Scanner scans networks, which is its purpose, but some antivirus products cannot tell a legitimate tool for network administrators from malicious software. For the same reason they may call it “Hacktool”, “Unwanted”, “PUA”, “Potentially Unsafe”, “Riskware” and so on.
• A new product, or a new version, may be reported as “Reputation” or “Suspicious”. This only means that few computers have the file yet, because it is new.

What we do

• We never include viruses or malware in our products.
• We sign every file with our digital signature. You can see it on the Digital Signatures tab of the file’s properties. If you downloaded the file from our website and it has our signature, it is safe to use.
• We report false positives to antivirus companies, and they usually fix them quickly. Some antivirus products, however, often report false positives again or are slow to fix them, for example Alibaba/AliCloud, Apex/SecureAge, ClamAV, Cylance, DeepInstinct, Elastic, Eset, Jiangmin, Malwarebytes, MaxSecure, Microsoft Defender, Nano, Rising, SentinelOne and Zillya.

What you can do

• Contact the company that makes your antivirus. Send them the file and ask them to check it again and remove the false alarm.
• Check the file with VirusTotal, a free website that scans a file with dozens of antivirus products at once. Apart from a few false positives, most well-known antivirus products should report a safe file as clean.
• Remember the most important rule: always download our products from our own website. This is the best guarantee that nobody has changed the software.