Update functionality blocked by firewall

[BobM]

The cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com domain is blocked by our corporate firewall, along with many other file hosting sites (dropbox, mediafiles, snapfiles, rapidshare etc), preventing us from using the update feature. This requires us to locate and download the latest update on other file sharing sites (eg download.cnet.com, softonic.com).
Is there any chance the software could be altered to access one of these "more reputable", unfirewalled sites, or allow users to specify which mirrors they can/want to use?
Similarly, for new users, it would be worth providing mirror links on your download page to allow firewalled users access to your software, without having to hunt for it.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello BobM,

And thank you for your comments and suggestion.
I will definitely discuss the mirrors option with the guys in the web team.

As a temporary solution I have provided you with a direct link to download the file from our server (in a PM), but please note that it will only be active for a limited period of time.

Best,
Stefan

[BobM]

Hi,

The mirrors don't appear to have been implemented yet, so downloading v2.5 the download link on the PDF Xchange Viewer page (https://www.pdf-xchange.com/product ... nge-viewer) is not an option for me.

Similarly, clicking the "Check for updates" option in the program also fails...

Bob

[R.Janssen]

Isn't the blocklist of the company firewall something you should discuss with
the maintainers of that firewall rather than the company putting the files there?
Seeing the list of blocked sites you mention, it looks like they simply don't like
you downloading things, and when Tracker put their software on another site
and you download it from there, the site will be added to the blocklist before
you know...
That is a battle you cannot win.

Rob

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Bob,

Paul provided you with a one time solution, but seems like you do indeed need a more permanent one.
We are so far happy with the rackspace service and are not likely to change it as it meet the needs of 99.99% of the people trying to download from our website.

Solutions for you would be to either speak with your system administrator, or download the installation files on your come computer, and then bring them to your office machine.

Best,
Stefan

[BobM]

Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately my company, like many others, blocks access to filesharing sites that host both copyright infringing and non-infringing material. More "restrictive" sites aren't blocked in this way and I wouldn't expect them to be added to the "blacklist".
I'll try getting the firewall changed but have been told its unlikely to succeed.

On a slightly different subject, could someone advise the email domain of auto notification messages sent from this forum. Although I've selected the "Notify when a reply is posted" checkbox, I never see the email. Having said that, emails from anything@tracker-software.com arrive without problem. Is my company's email spam detector filtering forum notifications or are the notifications not being sent?

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi Bob,

You might be getting the notifications from john AT docu-track.com and mails are still being sent as far as I am aware.

Best,
Stefan

[John - Tracker Supp]

Hi Bob,

have asked our web dev team to ensure that all such emails derive from support@pdf-xchange.com asap - this should be done in the next 24 hours or so.

Thanks for the 'heads up'

[BobM]

Regarding sites blocked by my companies firewall, download.cnet.com is not one of them so I can manually obtain the latest updates from there.
I take the point about playing cat and mouse with online file repositories, but cnet is a reputable site and I could argue a case (with my firewall maintainer), should it ever get blocked, for whitelisting it. In conjunction with initiating this thread, I've attempted to get rackspacecloud unblocked in my firewall...but I'm still waiting, some months later.

More significantly though for people who are blocked from rackspacecloud.com, when using the "check for update" functionality in PDF XChange viewer, the download process appears to complete and a message is displayed saying "updates are downloaded and ready for installation". However, there is no indication that the download (and installation) has failed, so the user is none the wiser, unless he checks the product version numbers.
Please ensure that in future, the update process alerts users when the download fails, so they can make alternative arrangements.

[John - Tracker Supp]

Hi Bob,

The issue regarding the erroneus succesful 'Update' report is being investigated and will advise what we find - I can only assume that for some reason the Rackspace server is reporting success and I assume thats where our checking stops ... Obviously we need to amend this and ensure that a more robust method of confirmign the full install is implemented.

Also - we can look at adding an option to look for our alternate traditional server (docu-track.co.uk) if the Cloud server is blocked and try that as an alternative - do you know if your systems allow that ?

Thanks for the report.

[BobM]

John,

I'm pretty certain docutrack.co.uk should be OK (files.docu-track.com/WhichToolkit.pdf is not blocked), so that alternative would be good. Thanks.

Ref the forum notification messages, I'm still not getting support@pdf-xchange.com emails, but assume its a problem my end - I'm chasing that up.

Bob

[John - Tracker Supp]

Excellent thanks Bob.