infi, If you can not find such info in the set ups, it probably runs all the time in the background.

Lew,

"Setting up an app to share files on your PC seems risky to me. Particularly on a Windows PC. Personally, I have a Raspberry Pi, with a single drive, setup with the sole purpose of being a dedicated FTP server. Nothing on it but stuff I'm willing to share with everyone."

The gotcha is if the device has access to your network, then it potentially can be compromised, & a cybercriminal might be able to work their way laterally to access everything else connected to that network, including your PC/laptop etc. Or as with most IoT devices, it might be possible to recruit it into a bot net, or as a server maybe use re-direct exploits & so on. Generally if a device can process code, it can potentially be taken over to do bad things -- something that has actually reached epidemic proportions, with the feds looking at regulating/enforcing minimal security requirements.

Fair comment. I'd use this to share files occasionally between my own non-networked machines, or with a colleague at strictly pre-arranged times. I certainly wouldn't have it running continually on a Windows PC but that doesn't mean it can't be useful. As always security should be everyone's first consideration.

graham, check the port number through which your smtp server is accessed

Daniel Platten, A VPN is a different product to this... this should only be used over a LAN not over the internet as it does not have advanced security like protection against dictionary attacks or SSL. The simple way to share files over a LAN is microsoft windows networking and SMB/Samba on *nix/android devices. Over the internet use something like dropbox and encrypt the files before uploading and let them deal with the rest of the security and any malicious attacks.

Daniel Platten,

"Is not a VPN better?"

Different animal so-to-speak... When you visited the GOTD site earlier, it's possible that everything that passed between your Windows device & the GOTD site was intercepted by a third party. Where VPN comes in, is that that connection would have been between your device & a VPN server, everything passing between the two would have been encrypted, & the VPN server, acting as proxy, would have actually visited the GOTD site, relaying all the data to you.

1AVShare OTOH provides: "an embedded web server of your very own that resides entirely within the confines of your computer,". It's basically a minimal version of the same sort of web servers GOTD uses to store & present this site. You set up your own site on your Windows device, include access to whatever you want to share, and anyone with the site address & login info [i.e. name & password you already authorized] can access that site and whatever you wanted to share, using their web browser.

mike,
You are misleading, VPN is safer than this software. First, you missed few other Internet connections like:
I'm connecting to my Internet provider and then I'm connecting to my chosen and or different DNS server, who connects to the Internet provider for the individuals or the business's servers, who connects to the personal computer(s) or business computer(s) on the premises.

The user's name and passwords must go through all of the above to connect to your computer, do you think that any of the passwords cashed on any of the servers above can not be accessed by a hacker?

Another problem arises using third party intermediate software, they may be vulnerable to hacks or the software publisher may have a master key to access your computer in the background.

hi,
how would it compare to wamp or xampp. apart from the obvious that is a full package with Apache, PHP, MySQL, maybe the overhead, etc.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/xampp/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/wampserver/

Luis,

We who didn't fall for the Win 10 trap and have turned off updates, are reasonably secure from MSFT spying. I remain surprised at how many fell for the 'free' upgrade like MSFT was going to do them any favors.

Next they'll be thrilled when some guy in uniform shows up at their door to announce, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

Luis,
" I will use TeamViewer"

Please do bear in mind Luis that there have been many exploits & incidents where TeamViewer was used to compromise systems &/or networks. I'm NOT saying that it's necessarily unsafe --- just that cybercriminals have exploited TeamViewer installs to gain access, which is something IMHO anyone wanting to use it should research to help them stay safe.

mike, Again, you are misleading, can you certify that today's software is not vulnerable to hacks, does not have back door access to our computers and can never ever be hacked?

Why this software must be mounted in safe mode, another giveaway of something is not right using this software. Why all of my virus software must be disabled in order to install it?

Arrow, I agree; I have never installed a software in Safe Mode, I only ran an anti-malware in safe mode as it was disabled by a malware in the Normal Mode. Moreover, as TK mentioned, "No SSL secure connections with this product"; so...

Arrow, OMG ... I would be very very cautious installing any software in safe mode. I'm not claiming to be any form of expert or such. I have been using computers since the DOS days and I've always believed that "safe mode" bypasses countless processes and files that load in the normal Windows environment and should be reserved for rectifying problems with the operating system only. Maybe I've misunderstood the use of "safe mode" but I will not install any product that requires you to go into safe mode to install as I sense it may be very dangerous.

Thank you just the same GOTD and I will continue to monitor the giveaways daily for solutions that I find worthwhile.

Arrow,

FWIW Safe Mode, with different options available depending on the Windows version, loads or starts the same Windows you have normally, but doesn't start all of the services &/or driver software that are normally run. That way if one of those services &/or drivers conflicts either with Windows or other installed software you might get rid of the offender.

Many security apps or suites nowadays also run services that start with Windows, and can't otherwise be turned off unless you boot to Safe Mode [& possibly not even then, e.g. with 10's Defender]. Briefly, security software can be wrong, & if you believe that that's the case, & security software is wrong to prevent running something like a GOTD setup file, Safe Mode may provide a solution. There has never been an infected GOTD setup file, so many feel it's a Very safe bet to say the security software's wrong, but it's your stuff, so it's your responsibility to protect it, & so your decision.

martin, http://www.pcwinsoft.com/1AVShare/history.asp for basic history of the program since just after the first giveaway of it back in 2014 as a stand alone product.

prashant kumar, restart your computer in safemode and you will be able to install the software without any problems ;)

Rob, you are right, I do the same each time I want to install any giveawayoftheday software. I thought that the program to install is wrapped by some software that is blocked by antivirus, but even if I deactivate antivirus I still can't install any giveawayoftheday programs.

prashant kumar, try turning off your anti virus & firewall before the GOTD install ...turn them back on when your finished

Rob, oh surpise surprise I was right!! I had the same problem until I restarted my computer in safemode and then it installed easily!!!

Looks like an interesting program. Only as secure as you make it so change the default passwords and make it stealth. Pretty hard to find then and there is nothing on my machine worth all the effort to find. Installed easily on a WIN10 Pro 64 bit machine.

Rob, Safemode? Oh dear.... Pass on this then

Whoa !!! Rob ...

THANKS .. .

i'm gonna hang on to my 1AVShare ((1.7.8)) version.