Getting around Chrome's Malicious File Warning
Solution 1:
I had exactly this problem with an exe file that is downloadable from my web site. Whenever I tried to download the file using Chrome it gave the warning.
The solution I found was to sign up to Google Webmaster Tools and add my site. It took several days for Google to crawl my site, and fill in any information, but I went back today and finally found loads of information there.
Now I can download my file, and there is no malicious warning any more.
It seems that once Google has checked out your site and determined that you are not a bad person, the problem goes away.
Solution 2:
Well, anonymous .exe are potential threats, Chrome is preventing users about this.
You are signing the exes, but I'm not quite sure your certificate is backed by a Certification Authority, like Verisign. They sell this services. But yet, I'm not sure signing will make any difference. Chrome reads the files' names inside the zip, but I don't think it decompress the entire file to read the sign.
I can tell you one or two workarounds, I'm pretty sure you know them:
- Change the file extension, and ask the user to rename the files back to .exe
- Password protect your zip, rar, or whatever, so Chrome won't be able to look inside, and supply the password to users: it's not a secret password
Solution 3:
I also had the same issue, and tried the options described above as well,but no luck. I guess I was just too impatient to wait for Google to crawl my site.
I ended up registering with Softonic and CNET's Upload.com, and submitted my application for review and inclusion on their sites. After their approval, I added the link to my site, the file downloaded fine.
The only bad thing is that you need to download the Softonic downloader to install your application on softonic, but CNET offers a "direct download link" that allows you to download your original installer.
Solution 4:
I ran into this issue. The simplest work around: use another [insert browser name here]. eg. firefox.