Digital Certificate Inquiry

[janicefoo]

Dear members,
I am very new in digital certificates and authentication matters. I created an exe application ( 2 dlls are required to run this application) for my e-learning website. Currently, I found problem in accessing the application from the browser on computers with XP, IE 6.0.2800. ActiveX bugs keep disabling me to run the exe file. However, after I enable ActiveX in the Security settings of my browser, a message box displaying 'ActiveX control on this page might be unsafe...Yes/No' pop up. If I click Yes, it will run my exe application smoothly. Therefore, I wonder if I digitally sign my application could solve this security problem.

Another query is that whether can I find any free digital certificates as I have a tight budget for my project. I searched on the net and most of them provide 30 days free trial, which is not sufficient enough for my website. How much is the cost of digital certificates? Looking forward to some reply soon.

Thanks in advance,
Janice

 

[teriviret]

Yes, I think if you digitally signed the control, it would not bother you with the security dialog when you try to download it.

If you find a place that will give you free digital certificates, let us know. As far as I know there is no such place. If there was, nobody would be paying for them in the first place. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

 

[janicefoo]

Hi teriviret,
Thanks for your reply. I think I give up seaching for free digital certificates already. Anyhow which authenticode ID would you recommand? I really don't know much about these things. Looking forward to your reply soon.

Thanks in advance,
Janice

 

[janicefoo]

Hi teriviret,
I have some problems with the internet security. Hope you could guide and assist me. As mentioned in the earlier messages regarding the exe, dlls and vbscript that launches client side exe file, I currently face almost the similar problems. I haven't got my application a digital certificate. However, I noticed that when I select 'enable' for the my Internet Security settings, 3rd setting of the ActiveX controls and plug-ins, which is the "initialize and script ActiveX contols not marked as safe", the pop up disappear. However, as I know, most computer's default settings for this is 'disabled'. I wonder this problem could be solved if I digitally sign this application. I don't think requesting the user to manually change their internet settings is a good method. However, I am not sure if getting Digital certificate will solve this problems. The following is the script i wrote for vbscript (on my webpage) to call client side exe file.

Dim fso,WshShell
set fso=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") 

if fso.FileExists("C:\Program Files\IEBAudioRecorder\test.txt") then  'Give whole path to the file here
	msgBox("File Exists")
	WshShell.Run("C:\Progra~1\IEBAud~1\AudioRecorder.exe") 'run one.exe program
else
	msgbox("file not found, please download it")
	WshShell.Run("[URL unfurl="true"]http://blackfeet:90/library/IEBSoundRecorder.exe")[/URL] 'download installer from the server
end if

set fso=nothing
set WshShell=nothing

I wonder if the problem comes from the code above or due to unsigned application. Hope you could guide me through this. Looking forward to your reply soon.

Thanks in advance,
Janice

 

[janicefoo]

Sorry, I have forgotten to mention that if the 3rd ActiveX setting is set to disabled, my vbscript will not run and the exe(client side) will not be launched.

Would having a digital certificate for my application or the vbscript that calls the application solve this problem?

I am very confused and helpless now.

Thanks
Janice

 

[teriviret]

You need to mark your controls as "safe for scripting". This MSDN article explains all about that.