Is there something that would let me look inside installer executables? Something that would perhaps help me root out the mal-ware and spyware prior to installing?
ADDED:
Never mind, I found this freeware extractor thingie that will probably work (called) uniextract
7-Zip will open most without having to extract them! What 7-Zip can't open such as Inno Setup made installers you'd need something like Inno Setup Unpacker.
Edit:
I found this freeware extractor thingie that will probably work --
That will drive a ton of antivirus software nuts with false positives!
uniextract has not been officially updated in years, it has unofficial ones and with elbow grease you can update it's components yourself, it just is a cmd line that runs things like 7zip and inno-unpacker.
Yes it may set off Antivirus softwares (if it's from a reputable source, they are false positives). It will not work on every .exe installer, many yes but not all (and maybe not even most).
Keetah if you are going to use it please read through this thread http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4719
especially the last few pages from this year
Keetah if you are going to use it please read through this thread http://www.portablef...?f=2&t=4719
That gave me a 404 error
http://www.portablef...?f=2&t=4719
The portablefreeware.com site search engine could not find Uniextract
but my browser "StartPage" search engine found many items on that website, including the 9 page monster with a post dated Sat Jul 13, 2013 8:40 pm
yeah that's the thread thanks
It will not work on every .exe installer, many yes but not all (and maybe not even most).
If that's the tool that was recommended on here years ago in a freeware thread and I think it may be, it would always choke on .msi installers - probably since it hadn't been updated to stay current.
I recall 7-zip can look inside some installers and there is also an MSI plugin for Total Commander.