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Digital Signature for Custom Builds
We are proud to announce the release of Remote Utilities 6.8. This program update provides significant changes to the MSI configurator — now you can sign your custom Host installers with a valid digital signature.
Updated MSI Configurator
We have modified the first step of the MSI Configurator process. Now in the beginning of the configuration process you must choose between two options — Online configurator and Legacy configurator:
When the Online option is selected, the configurator will remember your choices during the subsequent configuration steps and will send them to our web server at the end of the configuration process. The server will build an output file according to your selected options, sign it with our digital signature and immediately provide it to you for download. Usually, it takes no longer than a minute to build and download a custom digitally signed installer:
The Legacy option, as the name implies, is the regular MSI configurator as it has always been up until this update. With the Legacy option selected, the configuration process will take place offline on the Viewer PC. However, the output file will not be digitally signed.
Is there any difference between output files built with either option?
The only difference is that the file built with the Online option is digitally signed with our company's signature (Remote Utilities LLC) , whereas the file built with the Legacy option is not. Otherwise, the files are absolutely the same.
What are the benefits of using the Online option?
If you have a working Internet connection on the Viewer PC and if you have no valid reasons to stick with the Legacy option (see further below) then you are advised to choose the Online option. Here are the benefits:
- Your output file will be digitally signed with our Code Signing Certificate which should help avoid Windows warning messages and blocking of the file by some antivirus software and Google Chrome browser.
- The building process is performed entirely on our configuration server. This guarantees the proper original Host installer is sourced into the configuration process. Also, the process itself runs in a dedicated server environment maintained by our engineers, rather than on random client computers.
When might you still need to use the Legacy option?
In some cases using the legacy configurator option may still be necessary:
- There is no Internet access on the Viewer PC. Remember, that the Online option requires Internet connection, whereas the Legacy option does not;
- Due to the security policy in your organization you are not permitted to delegate building a custom installer to a third-party server, even if it is our company's server;
- You have your own digital signature with which to sign the output file.
