GeekLad » PC Software

Turn Any File into an EXE with Convert to EXE

GeekLad — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:21:24 +0000

If you’re a geek like me, you may on occasion have run into a situation where you had a file that you needed to convert to exe. I had read a few forum posts and tutorials on how to do this with self-extracting installers, and I even managed to do it with a 7-zip tool called 7zSD. It then dawned on me that I could use 7zSD and some VBScript to create a tool to automate it. Thus, my Convert to EXE tool was born.

Initially, I wanted just to convert a VBScript into an executable file. The reason I wanted to do this was to add a Java application to geek.menu (a fork of the PortableApps.com Suite). I then realized that it might be useful to expand the tool to convert batch files to exe, or any other kind of file for that matter. So I did just that.

Download Convert to EXE

Usage

It’s pretty stupid-simple to use. Just launch the exe, navigate to the file you want to convert to an EXE and select it.

The tool will create an exe file in the same directory where the file you are converting to exe is located.

If you are converting a batch file to exe (or some other console program), you’ll be pleased to know that the exe file the tool generates never displays the command line window. There is one command line parameter you can use when launching converttoexe.exe: /launch

/launch allows you to just specify a command you want to place into an exe. First, run converttoexe.exe /launch (you can do this from the Run… command in your Windows Start menu). It will first prompt you for the command you want to run. Be sure to place quotes if the filename and/or path contains spaces, so that it will launch properly.

After you provide the command, you’ll be prompted for the name and location of the exe file it will create. Navigate to where you want to save the new exe and click Open. The new exe will be saved there with the name you selected.

The /launch feature is good to use if you have a program that needs to be launched with specific command line parameters. A good example is if you have a java application or something, where it needs to be launched with javaw.exe and then a bunch of parameters after it.

The PortableApps.com suite and geek.menu only recognize exe files for the launch menu. This makes Convert to EXE ideal for placing Java applications into them. Even better is the fact that they are launched without ever displaying the command window. It is one of the easier and elegant solutions you’ll find for adding a Java application to the PortableApps.com suite.

Changing the Icon of the EXE File

If you want to change the icon of the output exe file, you can use a nice little tool called Resource Hacker. Just open the exe in resource hacker, and navigate to Icon Group > 101 > 0.

Then Action > Replace Icon ….

Click Open file with new icon…, navigate to the location with the icon and click Open. Click the Replace button. Finally, click File > Save. This is exactly what I did to change the icon for converttoexe.exe.

Technical Details and Source Code

I built the application in very much the same way in which it builds other exe files. There is a main VBScript (converttoexe.vbs) and a partial script used as a wrapper (wrapper.vbs) to execute the desired file. Essentially what the tool does is create a self-extracting 7-zip archive, and uses some VBScript as a wrapper to launch the file. It does nothing more than create a self-extracting archive that launches the file that is compressed into it.

If you’re interested in looking at the code and modifying it, I’ve made it available as well (under the GPL):

Download the Convert to EXE Source Code

To “compile” it, just run build.bat. It doesn’t really compile anything, it just builds a self-extracting archive containing several files:

converttoexe.vbs: This is the file containing most of the VBScript code to generate the exe files
wrapper.vbs: This is a partial VBScript file that is used to launch the file being “converted” to an exe
wrapper.txt: This is the self-extracting archive configuration file for the exes that will be converted
7z.exe: The 7-zip archiving program
7zsd.sfx: The 7-zip self-extracting builder

The build.bat file is pretty straight forward and easy to follow. It creates a 7-zip archive file called converttoexe.7z that contains all the files that are necessary to build other exe files. The only line that looks a little weird is the line that actually builds the exe:

copy /y /b 7zsd.sfx + build.txt + converttoexe.7z converttoexe.exe

It combines the 7zsd.sfx file, build.txt file (the configuration file for the self-extracting archive), and the converttoexe.7z archive that contains all the magic necessary to build other exe files. Feel free to let me know if you make any modifications/enhancements to the scripts. I can update the downloads here.

How to Remove Antivirus 2009, Spyware Guard 2008 and Other Malware

GeekLad — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:15:20 +0000

My wife, kids, and I spent this past Christmas at my parents’ house. It wasn’t long after we arrived before I gravitated to their computer to check my email, read the news, check the stock market, etc.

Much to my dismay, I found a barrage of malware, spyware, and rogue software had made its way onto their machine. I searched around a bit, and found the perfect solution: Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware.

By far the most annoying type of software that had been installed on their machine was rogue antivirus software. The worst and most persistent offenders were Spyware Guard 2008 and Antivirus 2009. Both of these programs (and many similar ones) are designed to deceive a computer user into believing they are legitimate, by informing the user that spyware and malware has been detected on the system.

Unwitting users click away at the dialog boxes and pay to register the programs, although in reality the programs themselves are the nuisance. Although my parents appeared to have acquired these programs with relative ease, I had a very hard time finding them to intentionally install them (on a virtual machine) for taking screenshots of them in action.

Antivirus 2009

I was able to find a website that generates a very convincing screen that indicates it has located malware on the computer. The webpage and application even use the Windows Security Center Icon, which enhances its appearance of legitimacy.

The Windows Security Center icon.

In reality, the webpage does not perform any scan on the system although it claims to have done so. Upon completion of the bogus scan, the page displays a dialog box that will install the program no matter what you click (if you download and run the EXE installer). Once installed, Antivirus 2009 constantly displays warnings in attempt to have the victim purchase the full version of the software (fortunately my parents had not done this).

Antivirus 2009 Screenshots

Initial view of a webpage that installs Antivirus 2009.	"Popup" that appears after the bogus scan takes place.
Antivirus 2009 initial scan on a clean system.	One of many annoying and incessant nags from Antivirus 2009.

Spyware Guard 2008

Spyware Guard 2008 is very similar to Antivirus 2009, in that it also attempts to have the user pay to register the product. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a website that attempts to lure me into installing the program so that I could provide screenshots. However, I was finally able to find the install exe (SpywareGuard2008.exe) on a filesharing site.

Spyware Guard 2008 Screenshots

Spyware Guard 2008 installer	Bogus warning dialog from Spyware Guard 2008.
Spyware Guard 2008 application showing bogus infections.

Removal of the Rogue Software

Fortunately, Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware makes it relatively quick and easy to remove this horrendous software. Just download the program and run a full system scan. When the scan is complete, click the Show Results button and then the Remove Selected button.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware scan results for the aforementioned rogue programs.

If there are still active programs once the removal has taken place, Anti-Malware will inform you and request a reboot to complete the removal process. Upon reboot, the system will have been disinfected.

It is important to note that although the free version of Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware does an excellent job of detection and removal, it will not provide prevention. If you would like to prevent the installation of malware in the first place, you will need to purchase the full verison.

Photo Credit: Chris Dewey

Useful Applications on the Go

GeekLad — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:13:27 +0000

If you’re a geek like me and you carry around a USB drive on your keychain, you might be looking for some useful utilities to keep on your drive. First and foremost you need to protect your portable drive with encryption. Information can fall into the wrong hands if the drive is lost or stolen. Your data can even be stolen if you hand your keys over when you get your car serviced or parked by a valet, so it is absolutely essential you keep data on your portable drive protected.

Once you’re protected with encryption, you’ll want to install PortableApps. PortableApps is a suite of very useful applications and utilities to have on your portable drive. When you download the suite, you get a a nice menu launcher for loading applications and documents you store on your drive. I actually use a modified version of the PortableApps menu. I like the mod better, primarily because it allows you to rename and hide menu items. I don’t know why the official version hasn’t yet incorporated the additional features that the mod provides, but I hope they do soon. You may find these apps to be the most useful:

Firefox – My favorite web browser. It can be really useful to have your fully customized Firefox (with saved passwords and all) with you wherever you go. Once again, I can’t stress enough how important encryption is. If you save passwords on your portable Firefox make sure you’re running it on an encrypted drive so that your passwords will remain safe if the drive is lost or stolen.
Pidgin – An instant messaging client that supports pretty much all of the major IM networks (Yahoo!, MSN, Google, AOL, IRC, Jabber, etc).
7-zip – Never again will you be stranded with some kind of compressed file with no way to extract the contents. 7-zip supports a ton of different archive types.
VLC – An excellent and lightweight media player for playing movies and audio files. With VLC you don’t have to hunt down codecs for playback, as it is all inclusive.
Notepad++ – If you’re a developer, you’ll find Notepad++ indespensible. It’s a really nice text editor that includes syntax highlighting for a ton of different programming languages.

There are many other useful portable programs available for download as well. You can actually make any program available in the PortableApps menu, simply by copying all of the program files and subdirectories into a subdirectory under the PortableApps directory. This works for relatively simple programs that include all of the necessary configuration and data files within the program directory and subdirectories. You won’t be able to use more complicated programs that write entries into the system registry and copy and use files in other directories. I’ll write more later about some of the other useful apps I carry on my USB drive that are not included in the PortableApps suite.

Encryption: Never Leave Home Without It

GeekLad — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:32:56 +0000

As portable drives have gotten physically smaller and larger in storage capacity, they’ve become an indespensible gadget for many. If you use yours to store vital and sensitive information, you need to secure that information with encryption. I should not need to tell you about the long list of problems that would arise, were you to ever misplace the drive or have it stolen.

TrueCrypt is a free and open source on-the-fly encryption utility that I cannot live without. It is very easy to use and it works on Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux. TrueCrypt works by providing a virtual drive to your system that you can use just as you would any other normal drive. All of the encryption takes place behind the scenes as you read/write data from/to the encrypted volume. You can either encrypt your entire USB drive, or place a file within the drive to store the encrypted volume. From the FAQ:

Q: How can I use TrueCrypt on a USB flash drive?

A: You have two options:

Encrypt the entire USB flash drive. However, you will not be able run TrueCrypt from the USB flash drive.
Note: Windows does not support multiple partitions on USB flash drives.

Create a TrueCrypt file container on the USB flash drive (for information on how to do so, see the chapter Beginner’s Tutorial, in the TrueCrypt User Guide). If you leave enough space on the USB flash drive (choose an appropriate size for the TrueCrypt container), you will also be able to store TrueCrypt on the USB flash drive (along with the container – not in the container) and you will be able to run TrueCrypt from the USB flash drive (see also the chapter Traveler Mode in the TrueCrypt User Guide).

TrueCrypt is an excellent utility and it will even encrypt a system volume (where you have your operating system installed). My only complaint about this feature is that only Windows system drives are supported. You would think an open source project would support such a feature on Linux before it would Windows. In any case, it’s a great tool to have when you’re on the go.

Recover Lost Windows Keys

GeekLad — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:07:01 +0000

Magical Jelly Bean Finder Screenshot

It’s frustrating to lose your keys, particularly if it is your Product Registration Key for Windows or other software products. Karl Gechlik over at makeuseof.com has a nice little write-up about a product called the Magic Jelly Bean Finder that helps you to recover lost product codes. I’ve used this little jewel in the past and it can really make life a lot easier when performing Windows reinstallations.