Windows Vista: Open file - security warning on local exe: “Unblock” does *not* work - why?

Question

I use Process Explorer on a Windows Vista (Business 32bit) box. I have extracted the files from the zip file to C:\Program Files\Process Explorer. Every time I open the executable (procexp.exe) I get the security warning that the file is not from this computer etc.

Neither checking the checkbox on the security warning to "not warn again" nor using the [Unblock] button in the executables properties page will remove this warning. It will always popup again, and when I re-open the properties page of procexp.exe the [Unblock] button will be displayed again.

Why can't I remove this security descriptor from this file in C:\Program Files\... and what do I have to do to remove it?

Other questions that did not help so far:

• http://superuser.com/questions/166261/remove-process-explorers-open-file-security-warning
• http://superuser.com/questions/23613/get-rid-of-vista-security-warning

Questions/answer that may provide a solution (once I figure it out) ... but still the question remains as to why the [Unblock] button works for some but not for me?

Answer 1

OK, I figured it out:

If you have a file that is tagged as "unsafe" and you copy this file into the Program Files folder, than you cannot remove the "unsafe" tagging via [Unblock] because you need elevation to edit the file inside Program Files and the Vista properties dialog does not request elevation and therefore cannot remove the "unsafe" tagging.

The solution is to move the "unsafe" executable to your documents folder, [unblock] it there and then move the file back to the Program Filesfolder.

Answer 2

Funny enough, you can use the Sysinternals 'streams' utility to unblock them all in bulk.

Just use streams -d *.* from within a command prompt with administrative privileges (i.e. enter "cmd" in the Windows search box, right click cmd.exe and choose Run as Administrator).