downloads are failing

[jim holeman]

I continually get "unknown publisher" errors even though the download is legit

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

You have to be a little bit more specific:

- what browser are you using?

- what are you trying to download?

- how do you download?

[AlanHo]

Windows checks that programs downloaded from the web have a digital signature attached. Digital signatures simply verify who is the publisher of the software and contain information about it. If a digital signature is not found on a piece of software, the "Unknown" dialog box appears.

In order to be a verified publisher, software producers have to purchase a digital certificate. Not just for a site, but for each individual program. Any application, from any publisher, that has not been signed with a digital certificate from a trusted CA (Certificate Authority) displays a message that the publisher is Unknown. This presents a problem for smaller developers in that a code signing certificate from Verisign costs approx $400/yr or more.

If every download you attempt - without exception - results in the "unknown" dialog box - the problem lies somewhere in your computer. Do you get the problem if you download software from a major site like Microsoft, Google, Firefox etc?

However - if it only happens on some sites - then it is possibly because you are downloading software that has not been digitally signed.