Distributing EXE setup programs as TXTs?

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    I have been trying to find a place to distribute my Windows setup files for my free programs. I am an individual, not a company and I have no website.
    Many of the places like Google Drive and others do not let you create downloadable links to exe or zip files. Other places like Tucows, FileHippo, CNET Download.com,
    and similar places require you to put a URL link to your software in. They don't actually store your program, they just provide a link to it.
    Softonic would let me upload a program, but I have to create a PAD file. The only info I can find about creating a PAD file on YouTube is 6 yrs old and is
    no defunct. A free program from the ASP called PADGEN is also no longer used. They now have a new online app for making PAD files that is very Vanilla!
    It has no prompts or help screens.
    Work Around - So, if I take a file like GameSetup.exe and change the name to GameSetup.txt, then it can be sent through email and downloaded by the
    recipient. They then change the extender back to exe and run it. This works.
    However, what are the dangers of doing this? Does making my exe a txt make it more susceptible to being engineered for malicious purposes?
    Thanks for any help in advance.
    - RichC

    <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">'Til Later - RichC</span></span>

    Some distribution services, like gmail, will recognise if you simply change the file extension of an EXE (they perform some kind of basic inspection of the file's contents itself rather than just the EXE)

    If you want your files available to the general public, Please login to see this link. is probably the easiest place (especially if it's a game or game-development related)

    Otherwise if you're intending on sharing it with, say, a handful of people, a service like dropbox should work fine. Rather than renaming the extension you could also ZIP the file up and require a password to view the contents, but itch.io is probably the easier option

    Can you simply Send the file (exe) to a Compressed Folder? (AKA a Zip file)?
    I have done this for years to avoid corporate uploading.

    Process: right click on the exe and choose "Send to".

    DT
    Special Projects Director

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