Meh, I haven't dl's anything from dA in ages..... but thanks for the heads-up!

Known problem with DA and Rainmeter skins.

Well, why didn't someone tell me?  I didn't know it.  

You didn't ask. j/k

RND, I did a post on it here when the malware started at dA in the Rainmeter Gallery. And I've been monitoring and posting about it daily at our RM group there. Because of our persistance in hounding staff, dA has changed their reporting process and are also currently testing an antivirus scanner for uploads.

Unfortunately, dA refuses to let volunteers moderate which would fix the problem as one of us in the Rainmeter community would know what skins are bad.

We are still monitoring on a daily basis, hence that notice you found. Morley posts that as soon as he sees a suspicious skin and then I post it on the group's page. We all report them.

The problem is that not all skins tested through scanners, even VirusTotal, show up any malware. But experienced rainiers know that rainmeter skins don't come in .exe format. A lot of people don't know that and aren't suspicious when they see that, they just think it's an installer.

The people who are doing this aren't rainmeter skinners, they are those jackasses that hound every website that doesn't moderate like WC does. The people who are doing this are not RM developers, RM skinners, it's not the software, it's not the skins - it's assholes stealing someone else's skin and uploading it with malware - they are even using the same preview image that the orginal skinner did. Sometimes they don't even include the skin, they just upload one file - an infected .exe.

So please don't put down Rainmeter because of this, it's offensive and frustrating to all the people who volunteer their time in developing this open source software and create skins and generally help out wherever it's needed.

The Rainmeter community would love to have a nice safe website like this to host skins but they don't have a 'Stardock' behind them and unfortunately, there's no millionaires amongst us.

That wasn't my intention at all....if you see the arrows, I was putting down DA.

I fully intend to install and learn Rainmeter. MOF, I did download it while I was there. I just won't get skins at DA.

I apologize to any who thought I was downing RM.       OP Edited.            

There are some beauties in the gallery.

Sorry, it's been horrible since this started in April and I guess I'm feeling defensive. There was malware almost every day for 2 months, then nothing for a couple of weeks and then one came in the other day, so I'm pissed off at the moment and hoping and praying it's not starting up again.

And I'm still pissed off at dA for not being pro-active and only actioning it after we became a pain in the ass.

Friends?

Also, if you want to be safe, all the skins in our group's gallery at dA are tested before we accept them. I do most of the moderating but the handful of other mods do as well - it's one of our rules. So, anything at http://rainmeter.deviantart.com/gallery/ is safe to download. You can also check my post that is up-to-date at http://rainmeter.deviantart.com/blog/40705562/ and it will list what skins in the main dA gallery to stay away from and also what to look out for. Or if there's a skin you're interested in, just ask me.

Beautiful work, karmat.

Am I missing something in my reading of this?  There IS a Rainmeter Gallery here at WC, (https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/rainmeter), so why not refrain from uploading at dA, and use WC as the primary portal for skin delivery?

Here you go Jim.... NEVER GO TO DEVIANTART for any reason, EVER!  It is a worthless ill managed site.  Now you have been told. 

Because of the download cap, quite a few people wouldn't want to pay a subscription fee even if it's for unlimited downloads. I've been trying to get skinners to upload here but alot won't because of that.

Thanks!

But all they would have to do is submit enough skins to make Apprentice, and then there is no more cap, right? 

Maybe it's because WC has always been my skinning home, but I just don't understand why an artist wouldn't rather earn their way to unlimited downloads with their work to a site with high integrity, than upload to a site that has been allowing compromised versions of their work and doesn't seem to be doing anything proactive about it.

I commend you Karen for your hard work with rainmeter. I am sure it can be a thankless job but there are many including myself that really do appreciate it. Rainmeter is great because it is kept up to date and there are no limits to its potential. Its just unfortunate that there are assholes that are using it for their own selfish and distorted pleasures.

No. I mean caps for the people who would download their skins (is there a cap for uploads?). Alot of those people don't use Stardock products and might only be coming here for rainmeter skins --- at least at first.

Thanks JC, but it's been a team effort!

I use rainmeter and most of mine come from our gallery. I have only the four that come with rainmeter and that from the rainmeter site. I don't have any from dA.

Of course...as always...silly!  

I've been advocating that since Day One at Devart.

The reason 'modding' works here at Wincustomize.com is that the mods are either active skinners themselves or have been involved with skinning since its inception.

Download caps, etc are a necessary evil as 'someone' has to pay for the bandwidth used.  The commercial model/backing at Devart may be OK...but the price you pay is poor policing of uploads and thus the tainting of a product as is the case with RM there, thanks to 'abusers' of the system.

Ultimately it comes down to a choice....safe site with some limitations ....or bad publicity/reputation by association with a site whose 'control' is flawed due to no pre-emptive moderation....