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ITsVISTA Tip 22: Stop Security Warning from Apps on Vista

January 22nd, 2007 · 25 Comments · 41,582 views
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TipsYou’ve downloaded a program, and unzipped it to your Programs folder, but every time you run it, you get a security warning that the publisher isn’t known. You’ve unchecked the Always ask before opening this file box, but the next time you open it, it’s back again. What’s going on?
Always ask before opening this file

When you have an unsigned application, Vista ‘blocks’ it to protect your machine, and you have the option of unblocking it. This works fine if the application is on your Desktop, or in your Documents folder, or on another disk. But put that same application in the Program Files folder, or System folder before you unblock it, and Vista doesn’t let you unblock it.

To remedy this, you must unblock the application first, then move/copy it to your Program Files directory. To do this, right-click the application file while it is in a location like Desktop, Documents, or Downloads. Choose Properties and you’ll see at the bottom of the window a section called Security where it says: This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer. Click the Unblock button, and hit OK and your program is now unblocked. You can now copy or move it to the Programs File folder, and it won’t prompt you every time you start it.
Unblock

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Comments

  • Paul

    Jan 22, 2007 at 8:43 am

    Thank you for this tip. Doesn’t it strike you as insane that you’ve got to go through such hoops to obtain such a simple result?

  • jpfieber

    Jan 22, 2007 at 8:47 am

    Yea, took me a while to figure that one out.

  • 30 Tips for Getting More (or Less) Out of Windows Vista | ITsVISTA

    Jan 31, 2007 at 9:41 am

    [...] Stop Security Warning from Apps on Vista [...]

  • jjones

    Mar 24, 2007 at 8:10 am

    My PCAnyWhere and many other applications don’t have the unblock option – am I missing some thing?

  • Joe

    Mar 24, 2007 at 9:10 am

    Hard to know for sure without seeing your specific setup. I’d try moving the main exe file to the desktop, then see if you can unblock it, then move it back.

  • Vaughan Howard

    Mar 25, 2007 at 7:45 pm

    I accidentally left a movie DVD I had been watching in my D:\ drive which is one of 4 DVD drives I have. I rebooted my comuter with the movie DVD in the drive. It clobbered my boot sector. I can’t believe Microsoft didn’t do a simple check in their code for a move DVD. I repaire this error with the original Windows Vista Ultimate DVD I have. I now can boot and run software again, but the Open File Security Warning comes up with EVERY program I try to run…. from boot software through applications software. I have found 4 programs that won’t run at all. One is important to me… iolo System Mechanic Pro 7 for Vista. The others are graphic programs from MAGIX. I have been literally living with this ridiculous error for 2 days now attempting to avoid a reinstall of Vista (or maybe a dropback to XP after paying several hundred dollars for Vista Ultimate). I have been searching the web for solutions to this problem, but all I have found so far is older solutions that don’t work. There are dozens of solutions out there. I hope from the bottom of my heart that you solution works. I won’t even mind the extra work it will create for me (I have 133 programs loaded) if it works. Thanks for hopefully the answer to this stupid problem.

  • Kishore

    Oct 5, 2007 at 3:17 am

    Even after unblocking a file after downloading it is giving open file security error

  • Marc Sabatella

    Dec 14, 2007 at 3:21 pm

    Thanks for this! I just spent the last couple of hours browsing for help with this, finding all sorts of references to solutions varying from completely disabling UAC to fiddling with IE’s Intranet security settings to messing the DEP settings – none of which were effective/relevant/appropriate.

    I had even found the “unblock” command myself, but it too was ineffective. Luckily, my confidence that this *must* be part of the solution at least gave me the appropriate search term to find this site. Needless to say, it probably never would have occurred to me to move the file out of Program Files first then move it back after unblocking. Crazy, but it worked.

  • Kagan

    Dec 22, 2007 at 8:25 am

    Thanks for the tip, I’ve been trying “unblock” but it was useless. It worked now.

  • Louis

    Feb 18, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    Thank you very much. It worked for me.

  • rodrigo

    Feb 29, 2008 at 3:52 pm

    those vista notifications drives me insane! this tips works fine whit most apps, but it´s just to much trouble.. i find it easy just turnning of the UAC. althought it “protects” my PC, i find it to much intrusive.

    i don´t like being limitated by any kind of app…

  • veronica

    May 29, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    What do I do to obtain downloaded exe files that just dissapears right after download??

  • James

    Jul 5, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    Thank you! I had found the block button, but it was being ineffective as I hadn’t moved the program out of the system32 directory. (It was running on startup as well, so very annoying!) You’d think Vista would notify you as to why you couldn’t unblock. I was caught assuming I didn’t have sufficent permissions, and was trying to do it as Administrator, but couldn’t find out how.

  • Aaron Clausen

    Aug 7, 2008 at 6:51 pm

    Yeah this is pretty lame. The title of this article is misleading. Go through a million other steps just to turn off the warning that only takes one click anyway.

    I would love to know how to disable all of these warnings, for ANY/EVERY EXE file, FOREVER!!!!!

    Vista is made for novice computer users. Microsoft haven’t really sat down and thought about the users who have now been using computers for 20 years and don’t need all the time-wasting super secure warnings and help for every single mouse click.

    If I want to run an EXE file, its because I want to, not because I’m some accidental idiot mistakenly firing off a virus without knowing! :)

    Cheers

  • Dean White

    Aug 20, 2008 at 5:42 am

    Thanks a lot
    I first Changed the permissions on the files to allow users full control.
    And left them in the System32 Folder where they were.
    Worked great.

  • James A

    Sep 15, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    Great tip.

  • ABe

    Oct 28, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    Great tip, i’ll be trying it soon.

  • Eric

    Nov 11, 2008 at 9:15 am

    Ah, this is excellent. I wonder if there’s another way to do it though. I’m assuming that the “Don’t ask me again…” checkbox doesn’t work because you need to be elevated to make changes to files in ‘Program Files’. So perhaps if you start an elevated command prompt and then try to launch the application, you would get the result. Probably not though…

    Either way, I’m satisfied with this result. Thank you.

  • Jason Fritz

    Feb 10, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    Thank you thank you thank you!

    I just spent hours goofing with this exact problem. In my case I downloaded the Windows precompiled version of Emacs 22.3. You have to manually extract the zip file to a place where you want to store it, and I always put it under C:\Program Files\Emacs. I was dumb-founded by how the “Open File – Security Warning” dialog box allowed you to turn off “Always ask before opening this file”, but the next time I ran it, it was back again!

    I can’t believe it required copying the files to my user space to disable the blocking. Weird weird weird.

  • Brian

    May 3, 2009 at 6:56 pm

    Thank you for this tip. Now I can run programs directly.

  • Moe

    Jun 3, 2009 at 8:28 am

    wow! Just what the doctor ordered. This worked first time! Thank you so much.

  • Paul Sims

    Jun 6, 2009 at 3:05 pm

    I did this But,
    Properties and you’ll see at the bottom of the window a section called Security where it says: This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer.
    It dose not say this:
    This is a program (Vitrual Earth 3D install) from Microsoft.
    I click install I get;
    Open File – Security Warning
    This publisher has been blocked from running software on your machine.
    At bottom;
    “You must unblock this publisher to run this software.”
    I can not install it. Help: Thanks Paul

  • Paul Sims

    Jun 6, 2009 at 3:11 pm

    I just fixed it ; I copied it put it on desktop Then I right clicked it and it now said;
    At the bottom of the window a section called Security where it says:
    This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer.
    Unblocked it loaded fine.

  • WCW

    Jun 24, 2009 at 10:22 am

    Great tip BUT
    If you have “switches” set in a shortcut it doesn’t work

  • Markku N.

    Aug 19, 2009 at 12:35 am

    Doesn’t work for me. The annoying Intel-files are still popping up security warnings though I unblocked them. Damn it. I hate all the dialogs Vista has. No matter what I try to do, I really have to woo Vista to let me.

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