All of a sudden Windows 10 decided to start popping up the "Do you want to open this file?" pop-up every time I try to open a png file.
What can I do to avoid this? No idea what happened to cause this.
What happens when you click on a .png file? Does it open an application to view the file?
You can choose a different default program to open .png files or choose None if you want to be asked every time by going to Settings/Default apps/Choose your Default Apps.
The file is a simple 3.3mb png screenshot file from a blu-ray forum. I know about choosing the default programs but this is not what it's asking. It seems to think this file type may be dangerous to open. It's the same thing that pops up if you click an .exe file. This happens with all png files.
Deselecting "Always ask before opening this file" does nothing useful - it just allows this one file to open next time without asking. It only remembers this single file. If I try to open a different png I get the same pop-up.
Last edited by rivre; 23 Apr 2019 at 18:20.
That's your problem. It was downloaded from the internet so it is marked as potentially unsafe. You just need to unblock the .png file after you download it.
Unblock File in Windows 10 | TutorialsThe Attachment Manager is included in Windows to help protect your PC from unsafe attachments that you might receive with an e-mail message and from unsafe files that you might save from the Internet. If the Attachment Manager identifies an attachment that might be unsafe, the Attachment Manager prevents (blocks) you from opening the file, or it warns you before you open the file.
Actually it does do something useful, it unblocks that one particular file. That's Option Two in the above tutorial.Deselecting "Always ask before opening this file" does nothing useful - it just allows this one file to open next time without asking.
Okay, but this doesn't make any sense. I have been downloading png files from this blu-ray site for years, straight to my desktop or other folders on my C drive, and have never run into this issue before last week. I'd download the pngs and double-click and they would open. Why now all of a sudden does this happen? What changed? Did a recent Windows update change something?
Why doesn't this happen with jpegs or other image files? Just pngs?
How does it know whether a certain png was downloaded or extracted from a zip or whatever? It's a png image file. Shouldn't it just open when clicking like every other image file? It always used to until last week.
Also, some pngs do still seem to open immediately from my C drive. I opened one last night. So something else seems off here.
Well I'd love to solve this. Today I noticed it happens with jpgs, too, even on a 2nd internal HDD. Same exact pop-up.
I have never seen this happen with image files before a few weeks ago. The fact that they were downloaded makes zero sense to me. It's an image file. You double-click on it and it's supposed to open in your selected image viewer, not a pop-up warning.
EDIT:
I compared two jpg files by opening properties. One jpg I can open without issue, the other gives me that pop-up.
The jpg that gives me the pop-up sys this down near the bottom under the security tab under properties:
"This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer."
Then there's a check box next to it that says "unblock". But that only affects that single file.
The one that opens without issue doesn't say this.
Since when did this become a thing?? I've neevr had issues opening downloaded image files before. Did this happen in a recent update? How can I disable this nonsense so it doesn't happen every time I try top open a downloaded image file.
Okay, following up on this, I followed a tutorial in here on how to prevent downloaded files from being marked, using the group policy editor:
Disable Downloaded Files from being Blocked in Windows | Tutorials
But this affects files I download going forward, not ones I have already downloaded. For this, I used the reg file posted here:
Add Unblock File Context Menu in Windows 10 | Tutorials
After right-clicking a test folder and selecting unblock all files, it popped up a powershell briefly, and then all files were unblocked.
But I would love to know why this started being an issue for me all of a sudden? I've been downloading image files for years and never ran into this before.
And when Windows tags the files, or unblocks them, are the files themselves being altered in any way? I would hope not, as I would expect any files I download to be intact and unaltered.
You are almost certainly seeing the effects of the NTFS Alternate Data Stream, which allows files to carry extra data. In this case, Windows added something, probably to a 'security' stream, to serve as a 'danger signal'. See this page for a further explanation.
At the command line, dir /r will show if any ADS data exists - see here for where I read this.
I don't think there's any way to stop Windows from doing this - but you could look...
I still need help.
I followed the instructions here in the group policy settings:
Disable Downloaded Files from being Blocked in Windows | Tutorials
"Do not preserve zone information in file attachments" is set to enable. I rebooted my PC. I checked. It still says enabled. Yet downloaded image files continue to pop that warning up when I open them.
Why is this still happening?
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