Unexpected "Open File - Security Warning" nag

pokeefe0001 · Aug 10, 2023

I have some portable programs on a NAS and have been uneventfully running them on 3 computers for years. Starting a couple days ago Windows is giving me the "Open File - Security Warning" nag on one of the computers. Everything still works fine on the other two computers.

Diagnostic step #1 - I tried copying the folder of portable programs to a local drive on the problematic computer. I got the "The files might be harmful to your computer" popup but copied the folder anyway. When executing the programs from the local folder I still get the nag.

Diagnostic step #2 - I copied the programs to another folder on the NAS (getting the same "The files might be harmful ..." warning). Executing programs from the copied folder also gets the nag on the problematic computer but not on the other computers.

I'm not aware of changing anything on the problematic computer, but I must have. Changing the security setting in Internet Properties to allow unsafe executions (rather than "Prompt) fixes the problem, but that was not done on the other computers.

Rollback_Jockey · Aug 10, 2023

Try adding them to the exclude list in defender

johnlgalt · Aug 10, 2023

pokeefe0001 said:
I have some portable programs on a NAS and have been uneventfully running them on 3 computers for years. Starting a couple days ago Windows is giving me the "Open File - Security Warning" nag on one of the computers. Everything still works fine on the other two computers.

Diagnostic step #1 - I tried copying the folder of portable programs to a local drive on the problematic computer. I got the "The files might be harmful to your computer" popup but copied the folder anyway. When executing the programs from the local folder I still get the nag.

Diagnostic step #2 - I copied the programs to another folder on the NAS (getting the same "The files might be harmful ..." warning). Executing programs from the copied folder also gets the nag on the problematic computer but not on the other computers.

I'm not aware of changing anything on the problematic computer, but I must have. Changing the security setting in Internet Properties to allow unsafe executions (rather than "Prompt) fixes the problem, but that was not done on the other computers.

Check the three machines and see if there is a difference in the most recent updates, because it seems that one instance is treating all those files as if it has never seen them before.

Also check your antimalware suite to see if anything has changed on the one machine.

Try3 · Aug 10, 2023

pokeefe0001 said:
"Open File - Security Warning" nag

Did it look like this?

This dialog plagued files opened from within certain local folders for a while a 'few' months ago. It was a problem caused by the folder not the files themselves.

All the best,
Denis

pokeefe0001 · Aug 10, 2023

Well, it's certainly that family of warnings, but it's definitely pointing to the program.

Rare Ideas, LLC is the creator of the wrapper that "converts" some installable programs into portable programs. There are wrappers for FireFox, Chrome, VLC, and a bunch of other programs.

Rollback_Jockey · Aug 11, 2023

Could you try adding your NAS to 'Trusted Sites' in internet options as a test.

pokeefe0001 · Aug 11, 2023

I incorrectly described the problem, and a reboot seems to have fixed it.

The portable programs are actually in an encrypted VeraCrypt container that resides on a NAS. VeraCrypt mounts and assigns a drive letter to this container (sort of like using a Subst command). In other words, there is no UNC to give the "Trusted Sites", and going through that process was unneeded for 2 of the computers. A reboot of the misbehaving computer restores it's old behavior - I no longer get the nag when executing programs in the VeraCrypt container.

On the other hand, if I put the programs in a regular folder on the NAS I get the nag message on all computers. I vaguely remember there's a way to availd that - maybe with the Trusted Sites trick - but I'm not going to worry about that right now.