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Windows SmartScreen Warning

This page is specifically for Windows Defender SmartScreen, but similar warnings may appear on macOS.

When you download Houdoku and try to run the installer, you may get a warning saying "Windows protected your PC" that looks like this:

windows_warning_screen

This warning does not mean Windows detected malware in the application. The reason this message appears is because the Houdoku release binaries are not cryptographically signed with a Code Signing Certificate. These certificates are a way for application publishers to prove that they are the ones who created the binary. Even with a CSC, the message may still appear until enough users indicate that they trust the publisher.

So why doesn't Houdoku use a Code Signing Certificate? Because they're expensive! A CSC can often cost a couple hundred dollars (USD) per year, and since Houdoku is free and I don't currently need a cert for anything else, I don't consider it a worthy expense. Therefore this warning will remain for the forseeable future.

What to Do​

  • To continue installation after seeing this warning, just click "More info" under the description text and then click the "Run anyway" button at the bottom of the dialog.
  • If you're still concerned, you can easily build/package Houdoku yourself as long as you already have Node & yarn installed. See instructions below.

Manual Packaging​

# clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/xgi/houdoku && cd houdoku

# checkout a specific release version
git checkout tags/vX.Y.Z

# install dependencies & create package
yarn install
yarn package

The appropriate binary for your OS will be created in the release directory.