Program Download - IE CHROME - "is not commonly downloaded and could be dangerous."

Question

I have an installer for my C# program, I uploaded it to my website, but whenever I try to download it in chrome or IE, I get "MY FILE* is not commonly downloaded and could be dangerous." You can only keep it if you click a tiny arrow and choose "Keep" from a menu. Only a tenth of less of users will be able to get my program. How could I work around this? I have heard about digital code signing, but at hundreds of dollars a year. This is really not an option for me. Would making an MSI installer or putting it on a software website help?

Answer 1

The best resources are this blog post and this blog post.

To sum up:

1. Sign you package with an authenticode signature.
2. Don't be malware (I'm sure you got that covered).
3. Logo your software (if it's not a browser plug-in).

This can be a frustrating process, so hang in there. Microsoft has not disclosed how many downloads one needs to build a reputation, but in practice once you stop changing the package (the hash is part of the reputation) then you can get past this fairly quickly.