When and why does Directory Opus access the Internet?

Opus FAQs
1

At various times, Directory Opus will attempt to access the Internet. If you are running a firewall program you may find it alerts you to this. It's up to you whether or not you want to allow Opus through your firewall, although not doing so can prevent several features from working properly.

The times that Opus attempts Internet access are:

  • When you use the FTP (or advanced FTP) features.
  • When you use the ImageShack Upload (prior to Opus 11), or Flickr Synchronization (prior to Opus 13) features.
  • When you send an email (or send a file via email) using the built-in SMTP client.
  • When you run the update checker (or it runs automatically due to your Preferences settings), and when an update is downloaded. The update checker will make a connection to gpsoft.com.au (which is the same IP address as smtp.gpsoft.com.au, so you might see that in a reverse DNS lookup) for the main version check, and another connection to one of Google's servers to get an RSS feed of news articles.
  • A third-party viewer plugin or Windows Explorer shell extension connects to the Internet. For example, the shell extension for Perforce (a source control system) is known to create network connections when you right-click files (more details). Shell extensions for various cloud storage systems may also connect to the network, for obvious reasons.
  • When verifying the integrity of the program.

This last item involves the various methods Opus uses to protect against illegal use of the software (DRM). For obvious reasons we aren't going to detail exactly what Opus does here, but we do not use "hacker techniques", "firewall bypass", "browser injection" or any of the other slightly paranoid claims that various people have made over the years. Opus doesn't track you and we don't perform regular online licence activation or anything like that. You can run a licenced installation of Opus indefinitely without an internet connection at all if desired. Opus is a file manager, not a malware delivery platform :slight_smile:

The fact is that we don't like people stealing from us, and try to make it as hard for them as possible. Legitimate users have no reason to be concerned by this activity, and none of your personal information is ever transmitted in this way.

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