StubbieMan SFX Maker - freeware!

As a bonus for visiting our site and for reading about the Web Update Wizard, our low cost component for adding 'update over the web' capabilities to any Windows software with literally a single line of code, we would like to offer a completely free product for you to download - our StubbieMan SFX Maker.  You can click this link to start the download - it's only 185Kb and has a full install/uninstall capability. Please read this important note before you download - thank you.

What is StubbieMan?

StubbieMan is a program which makes self-extracting archive files (SFX files).  A SFX allows you to distribute zip files without the recipient needing to use an unzipping program - they just run your SFX.  An SFX also gives you more control over how and to where the files in the archive are extracted.

There are a number of SFX maker applications available, but we have not found one which met all our requirements... so we wrote one!

What Can StubbieMan SFX Do Which Other SFX Makers Cannot?

Here are the things which StubbieMan SFX can do which most of the others cannot:

• No need to create a zip file first - StubbieMan automatically compresses the files you select as it makes the SFX.
• Display a customised message to the user before any files are extracted.
• Optionally prompt the user for a folder to unpack the archived files into.
• Specify a default folder to unpack the archived files into.
• Use constants for the unpack folder - such as the user's TEMP folder, the user's Windows/WinNT folder or the user's Windows System folder.
• Run any number of commands either before or after (or both!) the files in the archive have been extracted.
• Get the SFX program to launch these commands one at a time or concurrently.  If you launch them one at a time the SFX program will wait for the first process to complete before the next one starts.  Also, if a launched command fails you can optionally abort the extraction process.
• Show a customised success message at the end of the process.
• Optionally clean up all files and folders created by the SFX.  For example, to distribute an AVI movie file in an SFX you get the SFX to unzip it, launch a process to display it to the user (using the option which forces the SFX to wait till the process displaying the AVI has finished) and then have the SFX automatically delete the unzipped AVI file as the final step in the SFX program's execution.
• The 'stub' program used by StubbieMan is just 48K.

We think this feature list makes StubbieMan SFX unique!

Important Note on Viruses and StubbieMan SFX

Please be aware that we believe that certain unscrupulous individuals may have used StubbieMan to package and redistribute computer viruses. Unfortunately we have no control over who downloads or uses StubbieMan, and therefore cannot control how the product is used.

You will find that some anti-virus software will identify any self-extractor made with StubbieMan as "Win32:Trojan-gen. {VC}". We do assure you that StubbieMan SFX itself is not a virus.

You can satisfy yourself that StubbieMan SFX is 'clean' via the following steps. However, if you are in any doubt, please do not download StubbieMan.

1. Download StubbieMan from the link below and scan it with your anti-virus software. You will find that it is clean.
2. Install StubbieMan if you have downloaded it from step (1). Your anti-virus software will still report it as clean.
3. Create a 'do-nothing' SFX with StubbieMan and scan it with your anti-virus software. At this stage some anti-virus software will identify the sfx made by StubbieMan as "Win32:Trojan-gen. {VC}" and refuse to run it. However, other than the Stubbie stub program, which contains the logic needed to expand the files contained in itself, the file you have created contains no files.

As stated above, if you have any reservations, please do not download StubbieMan. We very much regret what has happened to our freeware, as we wrote it because it would be useful to us, and, we assumed, others. Now it has very limited use because too many anti-virus tools identify any SFX made with it as virus-infected.

At some point in the future, we may endeavour to re-engineer StubbieMan to address these issues, but for the meantime, it is a case of 'try it if you want to'.

You can read more on this subject from the following external links:

• TrendMicro Europe
• Live Publishing Forum Thread

Download now....

StubbieMan SFX is freeware.  Please click the button or this link to download now - the download is only 185Kb and features an install/uninstaller and full on line help.