Open File - Security Warning : Unblock File

Excuse me for jumping in, but it's been a couple of years since this thread was started, and now I'm suddenly getting the same prompt before opening shortcut files (.lnk) I have marked LowRiskFileTypes (and the others for that matter) for .lnk Also enabled the "Do not preserve zone information in file attachments" in Group Policy. I don't see the "Always ask before opening" prompt nor an unblock button. I use Avast A/V and run Malware Bytes every other day (automatically), so no malware. "Run as admin" does work, but I'm already an admin! I've also got the UAC set to the very bottom. And yes, I've rebooted, several times :)

This is a 1 yo Windows 7 Pro x64 machine, fully updated, and I guarantee you this is new behavior for me, and it's annoying as all get out. I know random windows updates can fubar other stuff, but this one was a new one on me. I'd appreciate any new thoughts on how to get rid of this prompt.

TIA
Elaine
Ivy, VA

I tried all of those already, Brink, none fixed it or I didn't have the options available (no block button, no click to hide, etc). Yes, I use the built-in Admin account, always have, so yes, that's why that works. I created a second admin account, and interestingly, it didn't have the same problems. Obviously something changed on the main account, but I simply don't know what.

I happen to be a 'puter professional, but I have to confess I've never seen this particular issue before.

elaine

I don't know exactly when it started, tho, I'm only on this particular machine rather sporadically, darn it. I'd rather try some less "drastic" approaches if possible. I understand it may not be tho but in the meantime I'll see what I've got out there for restore points.

I decided to "byte the bullet" and did go ahead and do a system restore from July 10. I kicked it off before going to bed, as it said it would take a LONG time. When I looked this morning, there was an error box stating it had failed, with error code 0xc0000022, and that no files had been changed. However, to my surprise, the problem with it not opening shortcut files was (almost) fixed! I say "almost" because after I rebooted, it did prompt for one shortcut I had in my startup. All the others on my desktop, tho, actually come up normally again.

I looked up the error message, and while it seems to be somewhat generic with different meanings, I think it was a security issue, because I'd also been having issues where it warned me that some file might be dangerous when I tried opening it. All of this is new behavior, but much of it seemed to be that somehow it no longer saw my normal login (which wasn't the actual built in admin, come to find out--it was not showing)(but I WAS an admin on the normal account) as having full admin privileges. Why? Who knows?

The last batch of updates I'd done (21!), btw, had to be redone, of course, but I did them just now, and all is still well, other than that one startup shortcut, so I'm guessing/hoping they were not the ones that fubar'd my machine. But who knows?

I've still got some other issues I'd like to resolve, not related to this current one, but I'll start a new thread on those if I can't find any other solution :)

Thanks for pointing me to a solution!

elaine

Still not quite there. I mentioned that one startup file, and I'm also getting UAC warnings on some stuff being "dangerous" to run despite being an Admin AND having the UAC set to none (they never flagged before). I may try to go back even further on a system restore, in hopes that might work. At least "normal" shortcuts are working now, thank heavens. Worst case, I might try setting up a brand new admin profile, I guess. Not yet tho :)

I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that the profile I've been using since the beginning must have become corrupted somehow. It's still showing as an administrator with UAC at the bottom, yet some things are failing when I try to run them, and I'm still getting prompted on some shortcuts on login, but that may be because it doesn't really "know" who is logging in yet? I've restored back to a June restore point, the oldest one I still have, but given I don't use the machine on a daily basis, I'm not 100% sure when all this started. I still get that xc0000022 error message too on the restore, so I don't really know if the restore worked or not, frankly, because I suspect it's security related. I think (but can't remember now, sorry) I *may* have tried it while logged in as the "real" admin too and got the same error. I may try that one more time.

So I guess the next trick is to create a brand new admin profile, but rather than take up space in this not really related thread, I'll see if I can find more info in another. Setting it up is easy, but I'll need info on how to "transfer" the current profile stuff over to it. Docs etc are not the problem, but I've got a number of apps that are set to current user only. I assume I can simply re-install them but that will be painful. Any other "gotchas" to look out for?

Elaine
Ivy, VA