Why won't the PB executable run?

[akj]

When I email a PB compiled executable (either 32-bit or 64-bit) to my brother [and to others] and he tries to run it under 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate he always gets the error message "Your internet security settings prevented one or more files from being opened". This is true even if:-
1. I rename the .EXE file to another extension (such as .AKJ or .TXT) before mailing it and he renames it back to .EXE before running it.
2. He disables his Firewall and Anti-virus software before running my program.
3. He tries to run my program as an Administrator.

Has anyone any any idea how he can force my program to run? I do not wish to send him the PB source code.

[GPI]

How does they open your mail? Internet-Explorer?

[Little John]

You can put your EXE file into an archive (e.g. ZIP) and attach that archive to the mail.

[skywalk]

The receiver of your file can Right-Mouse click the file properties after renaming to ?.exe and click Unblock if highlighted. Otherwise, they can try whitelisting the exe file in the antivirus tool in use.
Is it Endpoint Protection?

[netmaestro]

I'm not sure a simple rename would work in this day and age. In 1996 it would have been the cat's whiskers but these days the OS is probably reading file formats and it knows an .exe when it sees one, regardless of what you've called it. Zip first, send, receive, unzip, run. It's going to work.

[akj]

Thank you for your suggestions, but the problem is still unresolved.

Some details: My brother's email browser is Live Mail within Internet Explorer 10 with Avast anti-virus (I'm using Kaspersky anti-virus on my PC). I understand he is not using Endpoint Protection.

I successfully zipped my .exe file into a .7z archive using 7-Zip software (version 15.08 beta 64-bit x64) from http://www.7-zip.org

On my computer I was subsequently able to extract the .exe file and run it correctly, but my brother's attempts on his PC to extract the .exe file with the same version of 7-Zip (from the .7z archive I emailed to him) always results in a zero-length .exe file. So he still cannot run it.

I guess the problem is down to his Avast anti-virus software.
EDIT: Turning off Avast for 10 minutes does not solve the zero extraction problem.

Has anyone any further ideas?

[IdeasVacuum]

....It might also be Live Mail but sounds as though you got past that bit. Before your brother runs the extracted exe, can he confirm that the file size is the same as when it was sent? If so, he can avoid the anti-virus issue by adding the exe to the 'white' or 'ignore' list.

....Just to be sure - your brother's OS bits match the exe? i.e. if your exe file is 64bit, is his Windows OS 64 bit?

Finally, to avoid these issues with other people, consider defining an installer for your app. You can use Inno for example (As used by Fred for PB installs). Inno Setup It's up-to-speed with Win10 and it's free.

[wilbert]

Has anyone any further ideas?

Maybe use something like DropBox or WeTransfer

[Dude]

Is it the actual exe not being delivered to the PC, or is there but not allowed to run?

[heartbone]

Anthony, perhaps it's a new M$ trusted computing setting?
Have the user make a local copy and run the copy.

[mqsymth]

Gmail, Hotmail, AOL and MS Live mail do not allow attachments with EXEs in them. It doesn't matter whether you rename the EXE or not.

A free Yahoo email account will allow attachments with EXEs. Else you have to upload a Dropbox type site and he has to downloadd from that site

[mk-soft]

Thats right.
Not possible to send applications

[JCV]

I always send apps in outlook but I compress it first using winrar in "rar" format.
If the app fails to run it might be the antivirus that prevents it or any other security software.

[akj]

Thanks for all your help.

The solution I have adopted was mentioned by wilbert who advised me to send the .exe file via http://www.WeTransfer.com .