For some reason this attracted my attention from the 'latest posts' on the home page, i though i would give my 2cents, despite not being a game-dev or involved in anyway.
EDIT:
Seems the conclusion was posted as i was drafting this, so i hope it still contributes some background info or helpful tid-bits. Something called me away, so took a fair bit longer then expected, for some odd reason this specific 'issue' triggered my inner nerd rather hard
Windows Smart-screen is a 'special kind of thing', that has raised eyebrows ever since it was introduced, at least in the IT space.
And has triggered many ''ow ffs Microsoft" reactions in the IT workspace, and likely many support-desk hours spend .. considering the average office worker
I believe the same happened for Ren'Py when it started supporting 64-bit, as you can likely still find posts on this forum, about how suddenly smart-screen started to pop-up on a lot of popular games that dint have it before. Likely related to a mix of licensing/verification and odd behavior, as smart-screen used to not always be very accurate with new software (in my experience back in Win7).
But the TLDR is always: Don't about it to much, unless you want to release software on a more professional level (as you have already found out). And you where on the right track, with just telling people to ignore it.
For a 'Power User', it might as well be named 'annoying-screen', because that is imho what it ends up being as disabling it is a pain as well these days.
Consider the following about some smart-screen features (based mostly of information, might be slightly outdated):
- It triggers on downloaded files, and stores a editable flag in the file meta-data (Zone.Identifier).
- Retains (or what ever the proper term is) said flag for files inside a .zip/.rar etc.
- The verification process is reputation based, and you gain with installs without issues (windows telemetry).
- It seems to not check files downloaded by a executable .... despite point 1.
So technically, you can make a version locked installer, that downloads maybe even installs your software.
Automate the download/installation and if required removal of files/app, and run that until you have enough installs to be trusted (likely a stupid number for unsigned software). Then simply wait for the grace-period to pass, and what ever changes you make to the files it downloads/installs, should not effect the smart-screen status.
Although i cant say for sure, its likely a reason why for example drivers installs, are done in a similar way. As OV certificates are the cheapest, and getting ~500-1000 people to install it to be trusted, is a fairly low threshold even for small companies/single person dev teams. Less money spend = higher profit margin
But its also the reason why some people hate it, because if you consider the above mentioned, its really just a dumb-screen imho; Just another form of income for Microsoft.
In practice, most users end up clicking true it, because the software author said to ignore it (and rightfully so)
It likely has its uses, but i have always failed to see them, as windows defender and other apps have always caught the problems before smart-screen was even in the picture.
I refreshed my memory from this
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, witch is largely the same as the posted article (article might even be partially based on it), so most of it seems still current. And also mostly overlaps with my own IT-Pro knowledge, from when smart-screen was still newish.