how about a update checker? - mIRC Discussion Forums

it could say under the help menubar - check for updates - and if a newer version of mirc is avaialble you get the option to go to the mirc download site - also maybe the option to also download the latest server lists will be handy to.

So, how about it please?

thanx

problems:

1. update checkers are annoying as hell. I have a program that I don't want to update, but everytime I start it it pops up a nagging screen advising me to update.

2. how often would you display such a thing - assuming you put it in the statusbar or something or wherever. Once? or everytime mIRC starts? or always? If once, one could miss it. If always - I only need to see it once and make up my mind, I don't need to be reminded of it for the rest of my natural IRC life.

3. auto-downloading the servers.ini without the user's intervention is a bad idea. Auto-downloading of any files is a bad idea, but ini files are already used to spread viruses/trojans/worms/whatever, including one that goes by server.ini (see the likeness?), and there's enough people out there who'd reverse engineer the mirc.exe to make you *think* you are downloading a server list when you would in fact be downloading something else.

locutusofborg, when I said I wanted an update checker in mIRC I meant only if you wanted to update mirc you can manually check if the latest version was out by using the "check for updates" under the help menu - I never said I wanted it to nag every 2 weeks or so - even I find that annoying. But I do think the update feature should be there - when you can be bothered checking for updates you do it - otherwise you don't have to and mirc won't bother you about it.

Sho how about please?

you are downloading a server list when you would in fact be downloading something else.

You know - I think that's why mIRC would be programmed to download from the official mIRC website! omg - this isn't a P2P program, relax.

You neglected to read the part in that same line that goes

and there's enough people out there who'd reverse engineer the mirc.exe to make you *think* you are downloading a server list when you would in fact be downloading something else

Do not read part-sentences and respond to them - you might miss some important information.

If someone is stupid enough to download mIRC from someplace else then the official website, I doubt it would make a lot of difference whether that mirc downloads a trojan while displaying "downloading update", or that it just downloads and installs a trojan whitout displaying anything.

I don't think an auto-update feature is necessary though, that's what the email list is for.
Also, it wouldn't be too hard to script, and I haven't seen a addon fot it yet, so I assume there aren't too many people eagerly waiting for this to be added. (I could be wrong about that ofcourse)

I don't think it's a bad idea at all. mIRC could check the official site upon the first time you launch it that day and if there's an update, it would write "Update Available" in the window bar.

It's not intrusive and would save checking the mIRC website manually. Sounds good to me.

With the number of people who use mIRC, this would be a DDoS on the mIRC website.

Alright, then have it randomly choose & check a mirror

or just go to www.mirc.com whenever you feel like
checking to see if there is a new version [/laziness]

The whole point is so that you don't have to do that

And how often should it check? It took over a year between 6.03 and 6.1, so even if the update checker only checked once a day that would be 365 checks that would all return "no updates." Then multiply that by the fact that there are several millions of people running mIRC and you can see that we'll be having a big impact on the web server.

Quote:

If someone is stupid enough to download mIRC from someplace else then the official website

//echo -a $calc(Polaris users + Invision users + god-knows-how-many-other-lame-scripts-that-are-distributed-as-a-full-package-and-not-only-a-scriptfile) = thousands if not tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of users that didn't download their mIRC here.

Add yourself to the mIRC mail list, it will fulfill the same task as an update checker.. Except it is even better, as you don't need mIRC open. If you really want an update checker, it is not hard to script one, and maybe a good project for you to learn some mIRC scripting..

A native mIRC addition would have zero benefits over a scripted one. And a possible negative impact on the webserver. If khaled had very few downloads of mIRC, i think it would be worth it, but I don't think that's the case.

and there's enough people out there who'd reverse engineer the mirc.exe to make you *think* you are downloading a server list when you would in fact be downloading something else

Do not read part-sentences and respond to them - you might miss some important information.

If u understood what i said then u would know that I never read part of anything - I read the entire thing and respond. mIRC program will be programmed to check for updates from the offical site, also, I don't think this would be a DDos attack on the mirc website - remember, The download program getright downloads the server list from the getright website and u know GetRight has over 20,000,000 users - they don;'t seem to get hanged up by too many users?

And you know - I think it would be more convenient to check from within mIRC than going to your email because of 2 reasons:

1) You might not be a subscriber to mIRC subscribtion because u might not like junk mail.

2) Your internet explorer is slow or your internet connection is slow for some reason and u can;t access your email

3) or u can't be bothered so u just use mIRC updater

AND this updater isn;t just for mirc program, it is for the server list to! And if any1 has read wat i wrote in my first message they would know that mirc will never check for updates without user intervention - so It only checks when YOU say so.

So how about please?

"You might not be a subscriber to mIRC subscribtion because u might not like junk mail."

The mIRC mail list doesnt send any junk mail. Infact it never sends anything, except 1 email each time there is a new release, to let you know. But yeah, I can understand why people would be weary of mail lists.

"AND this updater isn;t just for mirc program, it is for the server list to! "

I like the sound of that, i might try and script it

the ONLY thing Ill say about this is that IF it ever gets implemented, I'd hope that we could choose what to check for. Perfect example of this is that I only have my network's servers in the server list and NOBODY else's. This is cause Im only on ONE network. If the auto-updater updated my list and OVERWROTE my list I wouldnt be too happy

In answer to your third outline problem, whats so different about that problem now?

As it is, scripters currently have access to sockets, which allows them to code methods to retrieve updates. Heck, bwrite and so forth are just as big a problem here.

Yes, we have a right to be "paranoid" but there is nothing stopping a blackhat scripter from maliciously coding something that does this with the current "toolset".

Its like every other programming/scripting language that's available on the market.

Please note, I do agree with you, auto downloading files is a bad idea, however, the option to manually check for updates from within mIRC would be good, however, I personally think it wouldn't be too hard to script currently (the updater that is) with a socket or two.

actually u know I wouldn't mind scripting the request I made but the only problem is that I don't know how to script using mIRC. Im also a college student and I actually get lots of homework so I dont usually get enough time to be bothered and to learn to script.

But if any1 could do it and make it professional - do please let us know so i can download it,

thanx

It is a very simple script to make, i made the example below in less than 15 minutes
I just compare $version with the first line of http://www.mirc.co.uk/versions.txt

if a new version is available i supply a link to http://www.mirc.com/get.html in the status window.

Usage: Just type /mirc.update and press enter

Code:

alias mirc.update {
  sockclose mirc.update
  sockopen mirc.update www.mirc.co.uk 80
}
on *:sockopen:mirc.update:{
  if ($sockerr) { echo $color(info) -s *** Socket Error - $sockname - ( open ) | return }
  sockwrite -n $sockname GET /versions.txt HTTP/1.1
  sockwrite -n $sockname Host: www.mirc.co.uk
  sockwrite -n $sockname $crlf
  unset %mirc.update.version
}
on *:sockread:mirc.update:{
  if ($sockerr) { echo -s $color(info) -s *** Socket Error - $sockname - ( read ) | return }
  var %update | sockread %update
  if (%mirc.update.version == 1) {
    tokenize 32 %update
    if ($version &lt; $right($4,-1)) { echo $color(info) -s *** Update available - $1- - http://www.mirc.com/get.html }
    else { echo $color(info) -s *** No update available }
    sockclose $sockname 
    unset %mirc.update.version 
    return
  }
  if (!%update) { %mirc.update.version = 1 } 
}

thanks 4 the script - i'll try it but if i knew how to script I would have made the best damn update script there was but i can't script but I'll still try it.

anyway - I still think mIRC having a update feature that is NOT a script a pretty useful idea. I do hope it gets implemented in v6.2 of mIRC ;0

maffew: nice script

sockets are great.

But for the real reply. Most of the time, many of the people who actually have mIRC have some gay script that includes a hacked up mirc.exe that would probably have such a feature 'disabled' anyway.

While an auto update feature might be a 'nice' idea, then people will start to wonder "What is this communicating over the internet?"

You can never win when you have automatic items like this, and people wouldn't update anyway.

I can almost guarantee you that if mIRC included an auto update, the pirates out there would start screaming on this board about mIRC communicating with the servers, thinking Khaled is 'spying' on them.

Of course, I'm sure he has much better things to do with his time, but you know how it is.

But otherwise, I prefer auto update features for many people since most of them are too damn retarded to update anything anyway