"Open File - Security Warning" each time I open WinExplorer on toolbar

[miloshapiro]

"Open File - Security Warning" each time I open WinExplorer on toolbar

The pinned icon on my toolbar has always worked fine. Earlier today, I was having a problem where the folder on the left column wouldn't expand. In the end, rebooting fixed that so I'm not working on that, but in the process of TRYING to fix that, I tried unpinning my icon and recreating it by deleting the icon already there, clicking START, left-clicking "Windows Explorer" and choosing "Pin to taskbar".


The icon sort of works, but every time I open an instance of WinExplorer now, it first gives me a box that looks something like this:


"Open File - Security Warning"

Do you want to open this file?


And when I click the button that says Open, it does. But this interim step that I never had before is annoying. I've gotten the same thing when I open snipping-tool and Firefox on the toolbar for years and just tolerated it, but i open and close Exploring so often that I'm finally asking, What is causing this and how can I either fix it for the icons there or creating pinned objects that won't do that?


Thank you!

 

[miloshapiro]

adding screen print of that odd screen that pops up

adding screen print of that odd screen that pops up

 

[wither 2]

You said you want to open Windows Explorer yet, the path in the message seems to imply that it's looking at the path to internet explorer. The path to the Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) is here-

C:\Windows

If you meant Internet Explorer, the Roaming folder shown in the message is also the incorrect path.

 

[miloshapiro]

I very much mean Windows Explorer...seeing the files on my computer, dropbox, flash drive, etc.
If the problem is the path, how do I create a pinned object that points to C:\Windows\explorer.exe ?
If I go there and right click, I see Unpin from Taskbar as an options...like it sees itself as already being there.
Although I can't see the whole path in the image, i suspect it's just a shortcut that it's pointing at.
As an experiment, I unpinned it, went to C:\Windows, pinned the exploring.exe line there...and the
exact same thing. In fact, it still shows that same path which makes no sense to me.

 

[wither 2]

Right click on the .exe file and select Send To, Desktop. That will create an icon on your desktop. Drag and drop it on the Taskbar or right click on it and select Pin to the Taskbar.

 

[miloshapiro]

still no go

Followed your steps and wow, this gets weirder!

Before pinning to the taskbar, I tried double-clicking the icon you had me created on the desktop.
It, too, causes the annoying display box. The only difference is that the referenced location differs,

looking like the image temp3.jpg . And if I pin that to the toolbar, same type of box, but the
location is that path like before. I suspect that path has nothing to do with the exe file but is
a reference to where the shortcut is...and maybe the toolbar's pinnings get stored there.
But I'm no expert.

 

[wither 2]

I need to apologize- The second sentence in my first response is incorrect. The Roaming\Microsoft folder does contain references to program .exe files.

However, the caution in these messages imply that the files are from the internet. Are you on some kind of server or is your system a standalone?

 

[Megahertz07]

The default in windows is to ask permission ("are you really, really sure..") to any action and to open any executable file is one of them.
To change that open Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Action Center - Change user account control settings.
The slide rule goes from goes from "are you really, really sure.." to never notify.

 

[miloshapiro]

Hi Mega! On my standalone Win 7 machine (answering Wither's question), I found the page you reference (thought the path to it was just Start\Control Panel\Action Center, not Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Action Center. But no matter there.
I clicked on Change user account control settings in the upper left and saw the slider you mention.
I am currently set to:



Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer (do not dim my desktop)
* Don't notify me when I make changes to Windows Settings
* Not recommended: Choose this only if it takes a long time to dim the desktop on your computer.


If I go any lower than that, it's the total bottom of the list:


Never notify me when:

* Programs try to install software or make changes on my computer etc.


But that sounds a little scary. I think there have been times when malware etc has wanted to run things and I've hit cancel.
I just want it back to where it was last week, where the icon doesn't ask the question to open an EXISTING program.
I'm not installing anything.


Thank you both for your efforts!

 

[Emma Yazz Aza]

Hello miloshapiro. I would suggest checking your permissions @ C:\Users\Yoki Vlogs\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar. If you don't have proper access permissions to it that may cause an error like this. In my experience there tends to be a lot of errors that show up when the big issue is something else.

Another thing I'd suggest is checking the integrity of the Windows system with sfc /scannow. If there are issues doing this in a live Windows OS, try this: sfc /scannow /offbootdir=d:\ /offwindir=d:\windows.

Another option would be DISM.exe: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth, DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth, DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth. Keep in mind these need to be done in Command Prompt with elevated permissions.

Hope this helps, hope your issue gets solved,
Emma Yazz Aza

 

[miloshapiro]

Emma, i'm not following what you're recommending in the first paragraph.
I can go to C:\Users\milo\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar
and what I see there is shortcuts to all my toolbar items (including both "mozilla firefox" and "mozilla firefox (2) which is odd since there's only icon that shows up...but that's another story).
But what do you mean about checking my permissions there?
If you're suggesting that I right click the icon for Windows Exploring and select Properties/security on it, then for "System", every option is checked as "Allow" except "Special Permissions". Same permissions for "milo" and "administrators". there's a fourth one called HomeUsers which only has a couple of them checked.



But I just checked the Excel shortcut there (which doesn't give the annoying box) and the permissions are exactly the same for that one so likely those permissions are good, I'd guess.

 

[Emma Yazz Aza]

Hello again miloshapiro. If there's an issue with permissions on the folder leading up to the User Pinned folder you could have issues launching them regardless. I'm not all too sure why, I just know I've had the issue before and that solved it. Another thing I'd suggest to troubleshoot this issue a bit is to try to launch it from a program like Explorer++. Also, I still suggest using sfc and/or DISM.exe as a method of solving this situation.

Hope this helps, hope this issue gets resolved,
Emma Yazz Aza

 

[miloshapiro]

good thought, but I just checked each folder (other than "milo") and they all have identical permissions: everything but "special permissions", whatever that is.


I've also tried pasting into the Start/Run box each of these:
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=d:\ /offwindir=d:\windows

and just
sfc /scannow


A black DOS box pops up for a fleeting second and disappears immediately.


I also tried opening the command prompt and typing in each of those (pasting doesn't work there, I found).
In both cases, DOS came back saying:


You must be an administrator running a console session in order to access the sfc utility

 

[Emma Yazz Aza]

Hello again miloshapiro. In order to utilize DISM.exe and sfc /scannow or sfc /scannow /offbootdir=d:\ /offwindir=d:\windows please navigate to Command Prompt, right-click it and select "Run as administrator" to start Command Prompt in an administrator console session. Also, if sfc /scannow doesn't work in Command Prompt, try PowerShell as an administrator. But before you do that, please start Command Prompt as an administrator like I mentioned before.

Another thing of note is that some things aren't applicable to your OS/OS edition or certain settings are blocking you from utilizing the command or the specific parameters, so please try the other DISM.exe commands as well [ DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth, DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth, DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth .]

Hope this helps, hope your issue gets resolved,
Emma Yazz Aza

 

[Megahertz07]

"You must be an administrator running a console session in order to access the sfc utility"
Find Command Prompt (Start - all programs - Accessories - Command Prompt) RIGHT click - Run as Administrator
The CMD window will open with administrator rights. Type:
sfc /scannow

 

[miloshapiro]

scan ran but didn't come up with clues

With the "run as admin", that worked. But as you can see in the image, it didn't reveal anything helpful. Not sure whether to be glad it found no problems or bummed that it didn't help solve this.

 

[wither 2]

Would you try right clicking on the desktop icon and selecting "run as administrator?"

 

[miloshapiro]

right click on the desktop icon and do RunAsAdministrator

Sure. If i right click on the desktop icon and do RunAsAdministrator, instead of what I keep calling the "annoying box" (hereforward the A-box), i get the image below. When I agree on that, it opens Exploring. But having done that doesn't change anything. The icon on the toolbar still gives me the A-box and the next time I try the RunAs option, it asks the same thing.

 

[Megahertz07]

Did you open the "Change when these notification appear"?

 

[miloshapiro]

Sorry, but are you talking about way back at the 9th post in this long stream (the fifth one by me personally), where I explained where I have that slider now and what the lowest one warned against? I didn't move it down to the last one because, after describing the two lowest options (of which i was on the second-to-lowest), I didn't hear back that that sounded like the right thing to do and I didn't know if there were scarier implications of that which could leave me vulnerable.
~
If that's not what you're referencing, I need a little clarity, thanks. There's been so many varied advice so far.