First question for clarification would be: is it the "SmartScreen popup", or is it an actual malware warning from Windows Defender? The SmartScreen popup happe

First question for clarification would be: is it the "SmartScreen popup", or is it an actual malware warning from Windows Defender? The SmartScreen popup happens for all native executables downloaded from the internet, even when they are code signed with a 'regular' code signing certificate, it doesn't matter in which language those executables had been coded in. Only way around that popup reliably is to buy an expensive "EV certificate" (at least as far as I know) [0]. As far as I understand, SmartScreen assigns an intransparent "reputation score" to executable downloads. Popular downloads have a higher reputation score than propgrams with low download numbers. And programs signed with an "EV Certificate" have a higher reputation score then an unsigned program, or a program with a regular code signing certificate. TL;DR: if you want to distribute software on Windows outside the Microsoft Store, you need to get an expensive EV code signing certificate. [0] https://www.digicert.com/support/resources/faq/public-trust-and-certificates/what-is-an-extended-validation-ev-ssl-certificate https://www.digicert.com/support/resources/faq/public-trust-...