Copying or moving any file or subfolder within it to or from anywhere
else generates a pesky message that "files downloaded from the internet
may be harmful...blah blah".
Terry,
Copying or moving any file or subfolder within it to or from anywhere
else generates a pesky message that "files downloaded from the internet
may be harmful...blah blah".
The root cause is AFIK that those files are marked (in an attached "alternate data stream" (ADS) file) as being /potentially/ dangerous.
Maybe the below is be usefull to you :
https://thegeekpage.com/disable-blocking-of-downloading-files-in-windows-10/
Regards,
Rudy Wieser
Working in one particular folder (C:\Users\terry\Dropbox\3D Printing) is becoming really tedious.
Copying or moving any file or subfolder within it to or from anywhere
else generates a pesky message that "files downloaded from the internet
may be harmful...blah blah". Only a couple of clicks but over time a
real PITA.
I abandoned productive work yesterday morning and so far failed to find
a solution. Despite many hours with ChatGPT, prolific with suggestions i tried, but whose unbounded confidence and countless 'final perfect'
solutions have failed to fix it. There are some 4,400 files in 3D
Printing, spread over a dozen or so subfolders. A few appear to have
escaped the unwanted (and IMO daft warnings, making isolation of the
root cause elusive.
Version 22H2 (OS Build 19045.6691)
Working in one particular folder (C:\Users\terry\Dropbox\3D Printing) is >becoming really tedious.
Copying or moving any file or subfolder within it to or from anywhere
else generates a pesky message that "files downloaded from the internet
may be harmful...blah blah". Only a couple of clicks but over time a
real PITA.
I abandoned productive work yesterday morning and so far failed to find
a solution. Despite many hours with ChatGPT, prolific with suggestions i >tried, but whose unbounded confidence and countless 'final perfect'
solutions have failed to fix it. There are some 4,400 files in 3D
Printing, spread over a dozen or so subfolders. A few appear to have
escaped the unwanted (and IMO daft warnings, making isolation of the
root cause elusive.
Version 22H2 (OS Build 19045.6691)
Terry, UK
Working in one particular folder (C:\Users\terry\Dropbox\3D Printing) is becoming really tedious.
Copying or moving any file or subfolder within it to or from anywhere
else generates a pesky message that "files downloaded from the internet
may be harmful...blah blah". Only a couple of clicks but over time a
real PITA.
I abandoned productive work yesterday morning and so far failed to find
a solution. Despite many hours with ChatGPT, prolific with suggestions i tried, but whose unbounded confidence and countless 'final perfect'
solutions have failed to fix it. There are some 4,400 files in 3D
Printing, spread over a dozen or so subfolders. A few appear to have
escaped the unwanted (and IMO daft warnings, making isolation of the
root cause elusive.
Version 22H2 (OS Build 19045.6691)
Terry, UK
"Terry ( BT)" <t.pinnell@btinternet.com> wrote:
Thanks for all of those. The only method I hadn't found and tried was
WinAero Tweaker. Policies, Registry, Attachments, ADS, Unblocking, etc,
etc; tried them all in vain. Sometimes also causing worse issues - but
those might have been down to me.
I've installed WinAero Tweaker and FWIW enabled 'Disable Downloads
Blocking'. Have yet to test if it does indeed block the sort of files
that have 'tainted' a hundred or so of my folders with the MOWB (Mark Of
The Web). Obviously (but I tested it anyway!) it is not retrospective!
That is, of course, what I'm seeking.
After another few score of exchanges with ChatGPT and Gemini yesterday
and today I'm very close to a solution. It seems that copying the target
file or folder that's infected with RoboCopy strips it off.
I suspect you could copy
the entire folder with those files to a FAT drive, then copy them back
to mass delete the ADS attributes on them.
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
I suspect you could copy
the entire folder with those files to a FAT drive, then copy them back
to mass delete the ADS attributes on them.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
I will test your suspicion shortly. The folder I need to clean is 380 GB
so if your suspicion proves accurate I'll do it in six 64 GB chunks.
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
I suspect you could copy
the entire folder with those files to a FAT drive, then copy them back
to mass delete the ADS attributes on them.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
I will test your suspicion shortly. The folder I need to clean is 380 GB
so if your suspicion proves accurate I'll do it in six 64 GB chunks.
Terry
"Terry ( BT)" <t.pinnell@btinternet.com> wrote:
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
I suspect you could copy
the entire folder with those files to a FAT drive, then copy them back
to mass delete the ADS attributes on them.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
I will test your suspicion shortly. The folder I need to clean is 380 GB
so if your suspicion proves accurate I'll do it in six 64 GB chunks.
When copying the files around, yes, size matters.
However, when using the Nirsoft or streams tools, you are not copying,
but modifying attributes of the file in the file system. How long
streams takes to strip ADSes depends on the number of files.
Also, with copying, you risk a bad or interrupted transfer that could
corrupt files. Plus, you would be copying files that do not have an
ADS. You said only some files cause the warning, not all of them. With >Nirsoft, you see which ones were Internet zone flagged, and just remove
the ADS from just those files. streams would process every file, but
there would be nothing to do on files without an ADS. While an ADS has >content (which could be larger than those used for zones, like an entire >document or .exe stored in an ADS), deleting an ADS is faster than
copying the file twice (to FAT and back to NTFS).
On Sat, 1/17/2026 7:56 AM, Terry ( BT) wrote:
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
I suspect you could copy
the entire folder with those files to a FAT drive, then copy them back
to mass delete the ADS attributes on them.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
I will test your suspicion shortly. The folder I need to clean is 380 GB
so if your suspicion proves accurate I'll do it in six 64 GB chunks.
Terry
To the best of my ability, the problem is NOT purely an Alternate Stream
mark of the web. The "distrust" feature also randomly switches
to ZIP and 7Z files that do not have the mark of the web. I use
Sysinternals "streams.exe" to check for Alternate Streams.
I don't know of any other thing that could be triggering it,
but the documentation says that the nanny-feature has "file type capability".
And this just started happening, out of the blue, not that
many months ago. Previous to that, all install instances
of Windows OSes here were clean of such nonsense.
And as a test case, I can make a ZIP locally from a set of
clean files, and that ZIP might pass inspection. A ZIP made
on my LAN (a "private network") can be considered by the
nanny, to be worthy of file type treatment. I think I may have
even had a .vhd file treated to some nannying.
I would much prefer that the feature be fixed to work properly.
Rather than go on a campaign of turning off the entire
security system to make a computer out of it.
You don't get "good security" by "making a nuisance of yourself".
That never works.
Paul
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
"Terry ( BT)" <t.pinnell@btinternet.com> wrote:
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
I suspect you could copy
the entire folder with those files to a FAT drive, then copy them back >>>>to mass delete the ADS attributes on them.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
I will test your suspicion shortly. The folder I need to clean is 380 GB >>> so if your suspicion proves accurate I'll do it in six 64 GB chunks.
Pleased to report that your suspicion was correct, it works, thanks!
When copying the files around, yes, size matters.
However, when using the Nirsoft or streams tools, you are not copying,
but modifying attributes of the file in the file system. How long
streams takes to strip ADSes depends on the number of files.
Also, with copying, you risk a bad or interrupted transfer that could >>corrupt files. Plus, you would be copying files that do not have an
ADS. You said only some files cause the warning, not all of them. With >>Nirsoft, you see which ones were Internet zone flagged, and just remove
the ADS from just those files. streams would process every file, but
there would be nothing to do on files without an ADS. While an ADS has >>content (which could be larger than those used for zones, like an entire >>document or .exe stored in an ADS), deleting an ADS is faster than
copying the file twice (to FAT and back to NTFS).
But as per my original post I had tried all other methods, including
that one, in vain.
The only two methods that work for me are my Robocopy routine and your
NTFS to a PAT32 USB stick. I'm making the finishing touches to the
former so that I can automate it to clean that PITA 'Mark Of The Web'
across all of my 380 GB folder.
Terry
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
"Terry ( BT)" <t.pinnell@btinternet.com> wrote:
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
I suspect you could copy
the entire folder with those files to a FAT drive, then copy them back >>>> to mass delete the ADS attributes on them.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
I will test your suspicion shortly. The folder I need to clean is 380 GB >>> so if your suspicion proves accurate I'll do it in six 64 GB chunks.
Pleased to report that your suspicion was correct, it works, thanks!
When copying the files around, yes, size matters.
However, when using the Nirsoft or streams tools, you are not copying,
but modifying attributes of the file in the file system. How long
streams takes to strip ADSes depends on the number of files.
Also, with copying, you risk a bad or interrupted transfer that could
corrupt files. Plus, you would be copying files that do not have an
ADS. You said only some files cause the warning, not all of them. With
Nirsoft, you see which ones were Internet zone flagged, and just remove
the ADS from just those files. streams would process every file, but
there would be nothing to do on files without an ADS. While an ADS has
content (which could be larger than those used for zones, like an entire
document or .exe stored in an ADS), deleting an ADS is faster than
copying the file twice (to FAT and back to NTFS).
But as per my original post I had tried all other methods, including
that one, in vain.
The only two methods that work for me are my Robocopy routine and your
NTFS to a PAT32 USB stick. I'm making the finishing touches to the
former so that I can automate it to clean that PITA 'Mark Of The Web'
across all of my 380 GB folder.
Terry
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