Custom version of RustDesk detected as standard version

[Caspar]

TL;DR: How do I prevent our software from getting detected as one of the PatchMyPC supported applications?


Hi,

The supported application Rustdesk allows people to compile their own version with hardcoded settings:

https://rustdesk.com/docs/en/self-host/client-configuration/hardcode-settings/

I'm a software developer working for a computer shop. We provide our customers with a custom Rustdesk for remote assistance, with settings compiled-in pointing to our own Rustdesk server.

We also encourage our customers to use PatchMyPC Home Updater to keep their software up-to-date.

Unfortunately, as soon as a new standard version of Rustdesk is released, PMPCHU will overwrite our custom Rustdesk with the standard one, leaving them with an unconfigured install. And therefore unable to easily get our remote assistance.

How do we ensure PMPCHU doesn't try to update our custom app?

[Omar (Patch My PC)]

Hey Casper, Thank you for reporting this!
I'm wondering, is this custom RustDesk of yours has a different name than the original one in "Add/Remove Programs"? and if so, can we know what is the name exactly so we can exclude it from our detection? Thank you!

[Caspar]

Hello Omar,

Thank you for your swift response!

No, our custom build doesn't alter the name in "Add/Remove Programs".

At this time I'm not certain if that's something we can easily change; right now I'm just following Rustdesk's instructions to make a custom build, and I haven't looked into the process they use to generate an installer.

Would generating a unique name be the way to ensure PMPCHU doesn't update our version? If you can tell me how you currently match the package name (eg 'equals "RustDesk"' or 'starts with 'RustDesk', or perhaps a certain regex), I can see if I can make sure we don't match that filter.

[Omar (Patch My PC)]

We use start with "RustDesk", But we also can exclude any words from the titles for detection! but it's just called RustDesk right now! So yeah, if you can add an extra word in the title name, we can exclude that word from detection and by then it won't be detected by the home updater by default!

But for now, you can select "Disable Scanning" for RustDesk, although I see that it's going to be an issue telling every customer to do so..