CamStudio

CamStudio

CamStudio v.2.7.2 (build r326) screenshot on Windows 8.1
Developer(s) nickthegeek, windycity, wolfpackmars2, romulus9, jpetroules, gotschai, bleeblap
Initial release October 2001
Stable release 2.7.2 (Build r326) / 19 October 2013[1]
Development status Available
Written in C++
Operating system Microsoft Windows
Platform Microsoft Windows
Available in English
Type Screencasting software
License GNU General Public License
Website sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/

CamStudio is a screencasting program for Microsoft Windows released as free software. The software renders videos in an AVI format. It can also convert these AVIs into Flash Video format, embedded in SWF files. CamStudio is written in C++, but CamStudio 3 will be developed in C#.

History

The original CamStudio was released as an open source product by RenderSoft software in October 2001.[2] The source code license was converted to the GNU General Public License in December 2002 with release 1.8.[3] The Source code of versions 1.0, 1.4 and 2.0 are still available at SourceForge.

In 2003, the company was acquired by eHelp Corporation who owned a competing product called RoboDemo (now called Adobe Captivate[4][5][6]). eHelp Corporation released an updated version as CamStudio 2.1 under a proprietary software license only and removed the ability to create SWFs.[7] A succession of acquisitions led to the company being owned by Adobe.

Development of CamStudio 2.0 (the last open-source version) was resumed and released as free software again in September 2007 with the CamStudio 2.5 Beta 1 release.[8] Accordingly, it was re-branded as CamStudio Open Source.

CamStudio 3 is a complete rewrite of the project in the pre-alpha stages of development as of April 19, 2010.[9]

Malicious software

There have been ongoing reports about malicious code contained in some binaries of the software. In January 2014, the binary on the webpage www.camstudio.org was reported to be infected with the trojan, Artemis!0FEA2B12900D[10]

This edit from Nick Smith, the "caretaker" of CamStudio, "to finance future development, CamStudio has chosen to use an ad-supported installer offering other free software during the installation process. Regardless of what AV software is reporting, CamStudio unequivocally is *not* infected with a trojan or any other malicious software. It is possible that software offered through via the installer could be triggering the alert, but CamStudio and the installer are both clean."

Comodo blocked "CamStudio_Setup_v2.7.2_r326_(build_19Oct2013).exe" from installing, stating that it had a "Application.Win32.InstallCore.BWAN@1" infection. Nick Smith suggested disabling Comodo. Later, "PC Utilities Pro – PC Optimizer Pro" was reportedly being installed and being run without people's permission. Systems were infected with the following: "PUP.Optional.Delta.A", "PUP.Optional.Spigot.A", "PUP.Optional.InstallCore.A", "Rogue.Multiple", "PUP.Optional.CrossRider.A".

In 2013, Google-Run website Virustotal declared that CamStudio contains malicious software, where most anti-virus programs detected Artemis Trojan in CamStudio installer file. Virus scan shows malicious software in CamStudio

As of beginning of 2015 CamStudio installation is still distributing a malicious software, though the prior uninfected installers can be obtained from SourceForge.

See also

References

  1. ↑ , CamStudio
  2. ↑ "source code for CamStudio v1.0 to v1.25s (archive.org)". Archived from the original on 2002-12-17.
  3. ↑ "source code for CamStudio v1.8s is now under GPL (archive.org)". Archived from the original on 2003-02-10.
  4. ↑ "Introducing Macromedia Captivate (adobe.com)". Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  5. ↑ "Webinar: Captivate + Connect Pro (adobe.com)". Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  6. ↑ "Introducing Adobe Captivate 2: Changing the way you author interactive content (adobe.com)". Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  7. ↑ "CamStudio's History".
  8. ↑ CamStudio 2.5 Beta 1 release
  9. ↑ "CamStudio Support Forum".
  10. ↑ Talk:CamStudio#Possibly Viral

External links

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: CamStudio