Alchemy Mindworks

Windows Smart Screen is a security feature of recent releases of Windows. It attempts to alert you to potentially dangerous downloaded software by… well, mostly by creative guessing.

According to Microsoft’s web page that explains Smart Screen, the Smart Screen logic determines if a downloaded application is dangerous by “checking downloaded files against a list of files that are well known and downloaded frequently. If the file isn’t on that list, Microsoft Defender Smart Screen shows a warning, advising caution.”

Continue reading ‘Disabling Windows Smart Screen for Downloads’ »

Software that’s distributed over the Internet is traditionally “signed” using a “code signing certificate.” A code signing certificate allows an authority ostensibly worthy of trust to vouch for whoever is distributing the software in question.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

In reality, signing distributed software with a code signing certificate doesn’t do a lot beyond suppressing the scary messages that some web browsers and / or Windows might display when you download or install software. Absent a signing certificate, you might see a message to the effect that the publisher of the software in question could not be verified. There’s an example below.

Continue reading ‘Installing an Alchemy Mindworks Trusted Certificate’ »