Problem retrieving Gnucash data

[David Carlson]

On 9/26/2014 4:20 AM, Matěj Cepl wrote:
> On 2014-09-25, 22:49 GMT, Jennifer Peckham wrote:
>> Anyway, as part of his cleanup process, apparently he deleted Gnucash,
>> because when I went to open a saved Gnucash file, it won't open and wants
>> me to identify the proper program for opening it.  I was going to reinstall
>> Gnucash, but my Avast anti-virus program cautions me about installing this
>> program.
>>
>> I'm very nervous that Gnucash is what caused my computer problems recently
>> and am nervous about reinstalling it.  However, I have some important
>> business data saved as a Gnucash file that I need to retrieve.
> I think the key question is where you got your Gnucash from. If 
> it was from some random download site (download.com or hundreds 
> of its copycats) then most likely you got some payload on the 
> top of it (not necessarily pure malware, but they always bundle 
> their software with some programs they get paid for to 
> distribute). If it was even worse than download.com you could 
> get a virus.
>
> Go ALWAYS ONLY to the original sources and for Gnucash the site 
> is http://gnucash.org/download.phtml Programs you download from 
> there is quite certainly clear of any miscreatures and if Avast!  
> still complain then it is its problem (or general problem of 
> your computer which has been already invaded before) and Gnucash 
> developers would probably like to know about it.
>
> Best,
>
> Matěj
>
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Jennifer,

Since Windows is the most used operating system in the world, it is the
the target of more malware that any other operating system.

As you have already seen, various experts have different favorite
solutions to problems similar to yours.  It will be up to you to select
the solution that you think is best in your case.  I am a long-time
GnuCash user and I am fairly conversant with Windows, as I have been
using it since 16 bit (Actually, 8 bit) computer days.  Now you have a
chance to see my two cents.

Since most windows users, myself included, are not willing to completely
abandon Windows, solutions should focus on keeping Windows software
running safely and as efficiently as possible.  As others have pointed
out, GnuCash is safe and malware free at the original source, and it
normally installs and runs cleanly on Windows 7 computers, although
there have been a few isolated cases to the contrary.  As far as I know,
GnuCash has never hosed the computer that it was installed onto.

I do not use Avast anti-virus myself, but I have heard that it, like
other anti-virus programs, gives false positive reports occasionally, so
I would suggest using one or two other respected (and free) anti-virus
programs to scan the GnuCash installation file after you have downloaded
it from the GnuCash.org recommended Sourceforge source.  If you can
figure out how to do it, use the checksum to verify that it arrived
correctly.  Most users skip this step. 
If you can wait a few days, get release 2.6.4, or if you cannot wait,
use release 2.4.13, which is still available and runs faster than than
2.6.3 on most machines (in my personal opinion).  That release is
missing a few features that release 2.6.3 has, but if you do not need
them, the trade-off is slower operation.  In any case, do not use
releases 2.6.0 through 2.6.2, as some of their flaws are really
frustrating.  They do not hose your computer, though.

Good luck and happy computing.

David C