Avoiding Firewall Warnings

XLS Padlock
1

Issue: A recipient of a XLS padlock secured spreadsheet receives firewall warning despite a code sign certificate being applied to the file.

I created an excel spreadsheet and went through the following process:
turned off the firewall on my PC
commenced the build process
uploaded my digital code sign certificate when building the secure spreadsheet;
saved and closed the xls padlock generated spreadsheet
uploaded the secure spreadsheet to a dropbox account.

The Recipient:
turned off the firewall on their PC
opened the dropbox account
attempted to download the protected spreadsheet
receives Pop up notice: "Windows Protected your PC etc
ran the exe file anyway

From a user experience I expected that no firewall warning would arise because I had applied Comodo code sign certificate.

I am wondering if I have failed to do something correctly or whether such warning notices will always occur?
Also, is it necessary for the Recipient and I to turn off the firewall protections?
Any thoughts?
Thanks

2

A certificate doesn’t disable firewall warnings.

This notice occurs for any EXE file you download from the Internet, even digitally signed. Explanation here:

3

Thanks for the link. I have some homework to do

4

Anyone know how you’re supposed to ‘Register with Windows’? and if it’s costly?

5

No need to pay, your SmartScreen reputation builds itself when your XLS Padlock EXE files are downloaded and executed by your customers.