title: How to avoid a .exe to be identified as "File might be dangerous" by antivirus?
body: <p>The .exe I'm building is currently recognized by Avast as <em>"File might be dangerous"</em>. It is not a <strong>false positive</strong> because the antivirus software finally doesn't find any virus in it, but just an alarm saying that this file has been "rarely downloaded".</p>
  
  <p>I've contacted Avast but they don't seem to offer a solution except sending them the .exe for whitelisting.</p>
  
  <p>Things I have tried, but that didn't solve the problem:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>Have proper <code>resource.rc</code> file in Visual C++, with details about the .exe: <code>BLOCK "StringFileInfo", VALUE "CompanyName", "MyCompany\0"</code>, etc.</p></li>
  <li><p>Use <code>makecert</code>, <code>certutil</code>, <code>signtool</code> as detailed in this answer: <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/201277/1422096">How do I create a self-signed certificate for code signing on Windows?</a></p></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Things that won't work:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>Add to local avast exclusion (I can't ask every customer to do this!)</p></li>
  <li><p>Redo a "Submit file to Avast Lab for scan" for each new build of the .exe. <strong>It's not scalable to have to re-submit the .exe to Avast (and all other 50+ antivirus software!) for each new build.</strong></p></li>
  <li><p>Paying $200 per year for code-signing (it <em>might</em> work, but I don't find it fair to have to give a <em>$xxx ransom</em> per year just for being whitelisted)</p></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p><strong>Are there common solutions that can help to avoid "Rarely downloaded file / File might be suspicious" antivirus alarms?</strong></p>
  
  <p>Note: I've read <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28919827/how-to-prevent-my-exe-to-be-recognized-as-malware">How to prevent my .exe to be recognized as malware?</a>, <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34437458/how-can-i-make-my-software-not-to-be-discovered-by-antivirus">how can I make my software not to be discovered by antivirus?</a>, but it did not really cover the topic here.</p>
  
  <p>Note2: I've read <a href="https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB228" rel="nofollow noreferrer">these guidelines</a>, etc. but it did not currently help.</p>