title: Windows Defender SmartScreen and electron app
body: <p>I have developed a very simple electron app, which I then packaged using "electron-packager".</p>
  
  <p>I zipped up the application and sent it to my client. When this client runs the application, he gets the "Windows protected your PC" window/warning with "Windows Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk.</p>
  
  <p>App:       AppName.exe</p>
  
  <p>Publisher: Unknown publisher</p>
  
  <p>Along with the "Run anyway" and "Don't run" buttons.</p>
  
  <p>The app runs fine when the user clicks on "Run anyway", but understandably he would like to get rid of this warning (and at the very least show the actual Publisher).</p>
  
  <p><strong>I know about the code-signing certs, so there is no need to go there...</strong></p>
  
  <p>(<strong>IMPORTANT NOTE</strong>: I haven't asked him to look at the properties of the file to see if Security indicates "This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer.". I am going to check that tomorrow and hopefully it just needs to be "Unblocked".)</p>
  
  <p>What I am wondering is, why don't I get this same warning when I run the application on my PC? (We are both running Windows 10.) I have cranked my UAC all the way up to "Always Notify" and I have tried setting "Check apps and files" and "SmartScreen for Microsoft Edge" to "Warn" and even "Block". Still, the application always starts with NO errors or warnings. If I could at least reproduce what he is seeing, I would at least know if/when the code-signing works.</p>
  
  <p>(To be clear, I'm not using an "installer". The client doesn't want one. And, as I said, this is a very SIMPLE application/utility. They want to be able to copy the zip file, unzip the contents and run the app..)</p>
  
  <p>Any help is much appreciated!</p>