Windows 10 won't upgrade to a newer version

There is various Blue Screen of Death errors that you can encounter as you use your Windows 10 computer and some of these Stop errors have something to do with the win32kbase.sys file. This post will guide you in fixing the BSOD errors related to the win32kbase.sys file.

• A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. The problem seems to be caused by the following file: Win32kbase.sys.
• Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. If you would like to know more, you can search online later for this error: win32kbase.sys.
• SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (win32kbase.sys)
• STOP 0x0000000A: IRQL_NOT_LESS_EQUAL – win32kbase.sys
• STOP 0x0000001E:

KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED – win32kbase.sys

• STOP 0×00000050:

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA – win32kbase.sys

The win32kbase.sys file is a Windows operating system Base Win32 Kernel Driver file located in the System32 folder so if it ends up getting corrupted or if it went missing, your computer will throw up Blue Screen error. To fix BSOD errors that have something to do with the win32kbase.sys file, here are some possible fixes that could help. Worry not for these possible fixes are not complicated.

Option 1 – Run the Check Disk or CHDSK utility

One of the first things you can try to resolve the win32kbase.sys Blue Screen error is running the CHKDSK utility. If your hard drive has issues with integrity, the update will really fail as the system will think that it’s not healthy and that’s where the CHKDSK utility comes in. The CHKDSK utility repairs hard drive errors that might be causing the problem.

• Open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• After opening Command Prompt, execute the following command and hit Enter:

chkdsk /f C:

• Wait for the process to be completed and then restart your computer.

Option 2 – Run SFC or System File Checker scan

System File Checker or SFC is a built-in command utility that helps in restoring corrupted files as well as missing files. It replaces bad and corrupted system files to good system files. To run the SFC command, follow the steps given below.

• Tap Win + R to launch Run.
• Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
• After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow

The command will start a system scan which will take a few whiles before it finishes. Once it’s done, you could get the following results:

1. Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
2. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
3. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

 Restart your PC.

Option 3 – Try to run the DISM commands

You might want to repair potentially corrupted files in your system as having them could also trigger the win32kbase.sys Blue Screen error. To repair these corrupted system files, you can run the DISM commands:

• Tap the Win + X keys and click on the “Command Prompt (Admin)” option.
• After that, input each one of the commands listed below sequentially to execute them:
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

• Once you’ve executed the commands given above, restart your computer and check if the dxgkrnl.sys Blue Screen error is now fixed.

Option 4 – Try to run the Blue Screen Troubleshooter

As you know, the Blue Screen troubleshooter is a built-in tool in Windows 10 that helps users in fixing Blue Screen errors related to the win32kbase.sys file. It can be found in the Settings Troubleshooters page. To use it, refer to these steps:

• Tap the Win + I keys to open the Settings panel.
• Then go to Update & Security > Troubleshoot.
• From there, look for the option called “Blue Screen” on your right-hand side and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” button to run the Blue Screen Troubleshooter and then follow the next on-screen options. Note that you might have to boot your PC into Safe Mode.

CrazyForCrafts is a Browser Extension from Mindspark Interactive. This Toolbar Extension allegedly offers users tons of DIY crafting guides and tricks, however all that it does is point you in the right direction. It links you back to some of the most popular DIY Crafting websites on the internet that you can find at any time by a simple search.

While this may look useful and faster than looking around the internet for good DIY projects, remember that this extension injects itself into your browser, changing your new tab page to Search.MyWay.com and records your browsing habits, can view your internet history, and know whatever you are looking for or viewing online.

While using this extension you will see additional pop-up ads, sponsored content, and injected ads throughout your browsing sessions.

Due to its behavior this extension has been marked for removal by several anti-virus scanners, and it is recommended to remove it from your computer to prevent data leaks.

About Browser Hijackers

Browser hijackers (sometimes called hijackware) are a type of malicious software that alters web browser configuration settings without the computer owner’s knowledge or permission. These hijacks appear to be increasing at an worrying rate around the world, and it can be really nefarious and sometimes dangerous too. They’re designed to disrupt browser functions for many different reasons. These are typically used to force visitors to a specific website, manipulating web-traffic to earn ad revenue. Although it might appear naive, all browser hijackers are damaging and therefore always classified as security threats. In a much worst case, your internet browser could be hijacked to download malware that will do a great deal of damage to your computer or laptop.

How one can know whether the browser is hijacked?

Symptoms that a web browser is hi-jacked include: the browser’s homepage is changed; new bookmarks pointing to pornographic sites have been added to your favorite pages; the essential web browser settings are modified and unwanted or insecure sites are added to the trusted websites listing; you are finding new toolbars you have never found before; you might see numerous pop-up ads on your computer screen; your browser has become unstable or starts running sluggishly; Inability to navigate to certain sites, especially antivirus as well as other computer security software websites.

How browser hijacker infects computers

Browser hijackers may use drive-by downloads or file-sharing websites or perhaps an e-mail attachment to reach a targeted PC. They also come from add-on software, also called browser helper objects (BHO), browser extensions, or toolbars. Also, certain freeware and shareware can put the hijacker in your PC through “bundling”. Examples of well-known browser hijackers are Fireball, CoolWebSearch. GoSave, Ask Toolbar, RocketTab, and Babylon Toolbar. The presence of any browser hijacker on your system might substantially diminish the web browsing experience, track your online activities that result in serious privacy concerns, develop system stability problems and eventually cause your computer to slow down or to an almost unusable condition.

How to remove a browser hijacker

Some hijackers can be easily removed by uninstalling the free software they were included with or by removing any extension you’ve recently added to your browser. But, most hijacking codes are certainly not very easy to get rid of manually, as they go much deeper into your operating system. You should consider performing manual repairs only if you’re a tech-savvy person, as potential risks are associated to tinkering with the system registry and HOSTS file. Browser hijackers could be effectively removed by installing anti-malware software on the affected system. SafeBytes Anti-Malware can counter relentless browser hijackers and provide you with proactive PC protection against all kinds of malware. In addition to anti-virus software, a system optimizer software, like Total System Care, will help you correct Windows registry errors, remove unwanted toolbars, secure online privacy, and stabilize software programs installed on your PC.

Virus Blocking Access To Safebytes Website And Anti-Malware Downloads - What You Should Do?

Malware can cause all kinds of damage once they invade your PC, ranging from stealing your private details to deleting files on your PC. Some malware is meant to interfere with or prevent things that you wish to do on your PC. It may well not allow you to download anything from the net or it will stop you from accessing a few or all internet sites, especially the anti-malware sites. If you’re reading this, odds are you’re stuck with a malware infection which is preventing you to download or install Safebytes Anti-Malware program on your system. Although this type of issue will be difficult to get around, there are a few steps you can take.

Get rid of malware in Safe Mode

The Windows-based PC has a special mode referred to as “Safe Mode” in which only the minimum required applications and services are loaded. In the event the malware is blocking access to the internet and affecting your computer, starting it in Safe Mode enables you to download antivirus and run a scan while limiting potential damage. To enter into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking, press the F8 key while the computer is booting up or run MSCONFIG and locate the “Safe Boot” options under the “Boot” tab. As soon as you restart the PC into Safe Mode with Networking, you may download, install, as well as update anti-malware software from there. Following installation, run the malware scanner to eliminate standard infections.

Obtain the antivirus software using an alternate web browser

Malicious code could exploit vulnerabilities on a particular browser and block access to all anti-virus software websites. If you appear to have a virus attached to Internet Explorer, then switch over to a different browser with built-in safety features, such as Firefox or Chrome, to download your favorite anti-malware program – Safebytes.

Make a bootable USB anti-virus drive

Here’s yet another solution which is using a portable USB anti-malware software package that can check your computer for malicious software without needing installation. To run anti-malware using a USB drive, follow these simple steps: 1) Download the anti-malware on a virus-free PC. 2) Plug the Flash drive into the uninfected computer. 3) Double click on the exe file to run the installation wizard. 4) Choose the drive letter of the pen drive as the place when the wizard asks you where you would like to install the antivirus. Follow activation instructions. 5) Remove the pen drive. You can now utilize this portable anti-malware on the affected computer system. 6) Run the Safebytes Anti-malware directly from the pen drive by double-clicking the icon. 7) Click “Scan Now” to run a complete scan on the infected computer for malware.

Features of SafeBytes Anti-Malware

If you are planning to buy anti-malware for your computer system, there are lots of brands and packages for you to consider. A few of them are great, some are ok types, and some will destroy your computer themselves! You have to be careful not to select the wrong application, especially if you buy a paid software. Amongst few good applications, SafeBytes Anti-Malware is the highly recommended tool for security-conscious people. SafeBytes antimalware is a very effective and easy to use protection tool which is designed for end-users of all levels of computer literacy. With its cutting edge technology, this software will help you get rid of multiples types of malware which includes viruses, worms, PUPs, trojans, adware, ransomware and browser hijackers.

SafeBytes anti-malware takes PC protection to a whole new level with its enhanced features. A few of them are given as below:

Real-time Threat Response: SafeBytes offers complete and real-time security for your personal machine. This utility will constantly keep track of your PC for any suspicious activity and updates itself regularly to keep abreast of the latest threats. World-class AntiMalware Protection: Using its advanced and sophisticated algorithm, this malware elimination tool can identify and get rid of the malware threats hiding in your computer effectively. Web protection: SafeBytes checks the hyperlinks present on a web page for possible threats and alerts you if the website is safe to view or not, through its unique safety rating system. Lightweight: SafeBytes is lightweight software. It use up a very small amount of processing power as it works in the background so you’re free to use your Windows-based PC the way you would like. 24/7 Support: You can get totally free 24/7 technical assistance from their computer experts on any product queries or computer security issues. Overall, SafeBytes Anti-Malware is a solid program since it has plenty of features and could detect and remove any potential threats. Now you may realize that this tool does more than just scan and delete threats from your PC. For the best protection and the best value for money, you can’t get better than SafeBytes Anti-Malware.

Technical Details and Manual Removal (Advanced Users)

To get rid of CrazyForCrafts manually, navigate to the Add/Remove programs list in the Control Panel and choose the offending program you want to get rid of. For web browser plug-ins, go to your web browser’s Addon/Extension manager and select the plug-in you want to remove or disable. It is also suggested to reset your browser to its default condition to fix corrupt settings. If you choose to manually delete the system files and registry entries, use the following checklist to make sure you know exactly what files to remove before undertaking any actions. Please keep in mind that this is for skilled users only and might be challenging, with incorrect file removal leading to additional system errors. Additionally, certain malicious programs have the capability to defend against its deletion. Completing this task in Safe Mode is advised.

If you recently made some changes in your Windows 10 computer using the Group Policy Editor but they were not reflected and you got errors instead, it could be that your Windows computer wasn’t able to read the Group Policy file (registry.pol). To resolve this kind of issue, you have to repair the potentially corrupted Group Policy using the options given in this post. .As you know, Group Policy is a feature in the Microsoft Windows Active Directory which allows an admin to make changes in the features on Windows PCs that are on the network. So if the modifications you just made weren’t successfully applied, then there could be something wrong with the registry.pol file on the client or it could also be that the Group Policy folder is missing. To fix this issue in the Group Policy, you need to refer to the given suggestions below and make sure that you have admin privileges as you execute them.

Option 1 – Try to delete or recreate the missing registry.pol file

The entire settings of the Group Policy are stored in the registry.pol file so if it went missing, all the changes you make will not be reflected. The good thing is that you can recreate it but if the file exists and is corrupted, you need to delete it first before you recreate it.

• First, go to the C:/Windows/System32/GroupPolicy/Machine location.
• And from there, check if the registry.pol file exists or not. If it’s there, just delete it permanently by tapping the Shift + Delete keys.
• Now it’s time to recreate the file. Just open Windows PowerShell with admin privileges by tapping Win + X + A keys.
• After opening PowerShell, type this command: gpupdate /force
• The command you entered will recreate the registry.pol file and will refresh the Group Policy. Restart your computer.

Option 2 – Try recreating the secedit.sdb file

The security settings of Group Policy are stored in the secedit.sdb file so if you made some changes to security and they weren’t reflected, you can try to delete and recreate the secedit.sdb file instead of deleting the Group Policy file. All you have to do is navigate to the C:/WINDOWS/security/Database folder and look for the secedit.sdb file and rename it or move it to another folder. After that, restart your computer. Once your computer has restarted, the secedit.sdb file will be created again.

Option 3 – Try to reset the Group Policy to default

You can also try to reset the Group Policy back to its default state. There are several ways you can do that. You can either use the gpupdate or the secedit command in the Windows PowerShell to do that. Resetting the Group Policy will resolve any issues that could be caused by its current settings.

Option 4 – Try to perform System Restore

System Restore can also help resolve the Group Policy issue. It could be that prior to the issue, you’ve made some changes in the system that might have affected the Group Policy. To undo these changes, perform System Restore.

• First, tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• After that, type in “sysdm.cpl” in the field and tap Enter.
• Next, go to the System Protection tab then click the System Restore button. This will open a new window where you have to select your preferred System Restore point.
• After that, follow the on-screen instructions to finish the process and then restart your computer and check if the problem is fixed or not.

Option 5 – Use the DISM tool

You can also try running the Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management or DISM tool. This tool will repair the Windows System Image as well as the Windows Component Store in your Windows 10 computer. So if there are any missing or corrupted folders and files, the DISM tool can restore and repair them. As a result, any system consistencies and corruptions will be fixed. To run this tool, follow these steps:

• Tap the Win + X keys and click on the “Command Prompt (Admin)” option.
• After that, input each one of the commands listed below sequentially to execute them:
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

• Once you’ve executed the commands given above, restart your computer.

Over time Applications change, some for the better some for worse. Some of them even stop receiving updates and are old and vulnerable. Sometimes standards change and some file types are not used anymore. Software evolves along with technology and that is good. Keeping old and useless applications inside your Windows is not so good. From various exploits to simply taking up space, maybe even slowing down OS it is always wise and good to clean your Windows from unwanted old applications. In this article, we will be mentioning some relics of old and providing you with an explanation of why you should remove them from your system if by any chance you still have them on it.

Silverlight

Silverlight was meant to be a competitor for Adobe Flash, it is a WEB framework that enables rich media content inside your WEB browser. The issue is that it is not developed anymore and today's browsers do not support it. The only browser that actually can support it is internet explorer which itself is not supported and how there is practically 0 content on today's modern WEB that will require Silverlight, it is safe and recommended to remove it.

Adobe Flash

Speaking of Adobe Flash, you should remove it as well. Flash has stopped receiving support as of January 2021 and browsers have dropped support for it and even blocked it due to security issues. However, there still might be some local installation of Flash itself inside Windows along with the old Shockwave player that stopped receiving support in 2019. You should remove them both.

JAVA

Now this one is tricky, by itself JAVA does not present any security issues since browsers do not support it anymore and the desktop version is not really slowing down your computer. This one has simply put just another media runtime that is not used and simply takes up space and resources. However if you have some applications that you do use that rely on it (I can really just think of JAVA Minecraft at this point) leave it of course but in any other case, it is just purely not needed.

Quicktime

While we are at media runtime and stuff that just simply is not needed, Quicktime is one of them. Now this Apple Video player and codec is still pretty developed and active in Apple’s iOS environment, Windows version has not been updated since 2016 and it was discovered that it contains some critical vulnerabilities. Uninstall it and if you need a player that could play MOV files, just use a VLC player that can play them without any separately installed codec.

uTorrent

This one, the same as CCleaner was once a good application, as a matter of fact, it was the best torrenting application. Sadly it has fallen from its grace very low, from getting tons of ads in its interface to findings in 2015 that code of torrent client was packed with a crypto miner that used system resources of an installed computer to mine crypto without user’s awareness. You should uninstall this torrent client if you would like to get your PC back and not provide it for cryptocurrency mining for the company that developed it. Use qBittorrent or TIxati, open-source and free ones that have everything needed for any torrenting needs.

Toolbars and Browser extensions

There are a lot of toolbars for browsers and extensions that are malicious in nature or simply not updated providing security issues. It is very advisable to remove this as soon as possible.

WinRAR

WinRAR has gained its large popularity solely for the reason that you could download it from the official site like shareware and use it forever. The license never expired and you could use it indefinitely. Sadly not much has been improved in the application itself and it is slowly falling out in its range of what it can do. There are better open source and free options today like 7zip, PeaZip, ZIPvare, and more that are working the same as WinRAR if not even better.

Windows and manufacturers Bloatware

Yes, applications that come bundled with Windows and with some laptops that include manufacturers made software for different tasks like its own specific media players, calculators, etc. It is known that these applications are not better than their open-source rivals and there are too many of them including some that you will probably never use. It is the same as buying a new phone bundled with tons of applications that you do not need, did not ask for, and do not use. Delete all of them. Considering Windows there are also some Store application like Candy Crush Saga demo and other are safe to remove if not needed. That’s it, our advice for old and not needed applications so you can keep your PC safe and fast.

Hello everyone and welcome to another tutorial on errortools.com, Windows itself when it is installed has a general idea about certain file types and how to open them, for example, image files would be opened with application photos, web links with the edge, etc. So when we double click on the known file type, Windows will start the default application for that type and open the file in it. But what if we do not want to open files in applications Microsoft thinks we should? What if we want to open the website in firefox or images in photoshop, or whatever. Luckily we can easily change which application Windows uses for which file type. Click on ⊞ WINDOWS to open the start menu and choose settings. On the settings screen, choose Apps. When the Apps screen opens on the left click on Default apps. On right, you will get a list of Windows default applications for certain types of files. Click on any application you would like to change and choose from the drop-down list a new one. Click on it and you are done.

Windows 10 has displayed one of the most efficient and user-friendly interfaces. However there have been many issues on the backend of this commonly praised operating system: For example, Windows Update is still a wonky and error-laded system application. One example of this error is Windows Update Error 0x80073712 which stands in the way of users just wanting to keep their PCs updated hassle-free. The error code 0x80073712 signifies that a file needed by Windows Update to function is either damaged, missing, or corrupted. However, this does not mean that your Windows version will forever stay as-is with no mode to update it. Windows Update Error 0x80073712 is perfectly fixable with the set of provided steps below and some of Windows’ built-in troubleshooting steps:

Solution 1: Open Windows Update Troubleshooter

1. Open the Windows Update Troubleshooter by pressing the Window Key and  “S” keys simultaneously.
2. Enter the word “Troubleshoot” in the search box and select the Troubleshoot result
3. On the new window, select “Windows Update” to troubleshoot.
4. Run the troubleshooter, then open Windows Update and try to install the update again.

Solution 2: Run the DISM tool

1. Open the command prompt by pressing Windows Key and “S” key simultaneously
2. Enter “cmd” in the search box. Right Click command prompt among the results and select “Run as administrator”
3. In the Command Prompt window type the following and press the Enter key after every command

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

4. To close the Administrator: Command prompt window, type Exit, and then press Enter.
5. Run Windows Update again.

Solution 3: Rename the Software Distribution folder

1. Open the command prompt as previously mentioned
2. Input the following command pressing Enter after every line net stop wuauserv net stop cryptSvc net stop bits net stop msiserver rename c:windowsSoftwareDistribution softwaredistribution.old net start wuauserv net start cryptSvc net start bits net start msiserver exit
3. Restart the PC and run the updater if it works again.

Solution 4: Restart Windows Update Services

1. Press the Windows logo key and R together to open Run -> Input services.msc -> and press Enter
2. Search for the Windows Update service -> Check its status
3. If it is not indicated, right-click on the service and select Start to force start your Windows Update
4. If you see an error, locate the Startup Type option and set it to Automatic
5. Now you should reboot your computer and see if your Windows Update is OK

Solution 5: Fix Registry Issues

If after all the aforementioned solutions, you still experience problems with Windows Update, the problem may lie in the registry that is either damaged or corrupted. You may choose to do manual editing of your Windows registry by opening your Windows registry editor. But doing so is risky as one wrong letter may do incalculable damage to your system. To do so safely for more inexperienced users., we recommend using a third-party registry cleaner/tools, many of which can be found online.

If you have just installed the latest Cumulative Update on your Windows 10 computer and you find that since then, the Windows 10 Start Search is not displaying any results when you try to use it to search for something in your computer, then this post might help as it will give you some suggestions to fix the problem. This problem might be caused by some bugs brought in by the new cumulative update you’ve installed. It is also possible that Cortana is having some issues or that the Windows Search service hasn’t been initialized. Whatever the cause is, here are some suggestions you need to follow to fix this issue. You can try running the Search and Indexing troubleshooter or configure the

1. Run Search and Indexing Troubleshooter
2. Configure the Windows Firewall
3. Reinstall Cortana.

Option 1 – Try to run the Search and Indexing troubleshooter

The first thing you can do is to run the Search and Indexing troubleshooter in Windows 10 as it checks whether the settings for Cortana are in place and automatically corrects any issues if the update or software installation has changed the settings. To run it just click on the Start button and select Settings > Updates and Security > Troubleshoot. From there, select the Search and Indexing Troubleshooter.

Option 2 – Restart Cortana’s process in the Task Manager

Restarting Cortana’s process in the Task Manager could also help you resolve the problem. Refer to the steps given below to do so.

• Tap the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys to open the Security options window.
• From there, look for the Task Manager in the given list and open it.
• Next, look for the process of Cortana and right-click on it, and then select the End Task option to end its process.
• After that, the Cortana process will restart by itself and re-initialize.

Option 3 – Try resetting Cortana

• Open Cortana and go to the Settings section where you’ll see the “Turning off Cortana clears what Cortana knows on this device, but won’t delete anything from the Notebook. After Cortana is off, you can decide what you’d like to do with anything still stored in the cloud” option. Turn this option off.
• Restart your PC.
• After your computer boots, launch Cortana again and check.

Option 4 – Try to configure the Windows Firewall

• Tap the Win + Fn + Shift (Pause) keys to open Control Panel.
• From there, open the Windows Defender Firewall applet and click on the Advanced Settings to open the Windows Firewall with the Advanced Security panel.
• Next, click on the Outbound Rules section and look for Cortana and then double click on it to open its Properties.
• After that, make sure that the “Allow the connection” is selected although this is the default working setting.

Option 5 – Try to reinstall Cortana

If none of the options given above works, you must consider reinstalling Cortana.

• First, right-click on the Taskbar and select the Task Manager.
• Next, select File menu > Run new task and type “Powershell” in the field and then select the “Create this task with administrative privileges” option.
• Click on OK to open the PowerShell console.
• After that, type the following command and hit Enter to execute it:

Get-AppXPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.Cortana | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml"}

• Restart your computer and check if the Windows Start Search is now working.

VSSControl: 2147467259 Backup jobs failed. Cannot create a shadow copy of the volumes containing the writer’s data. VSS asynchronous operation is not completed. Code: [0x8004231f]

This message pops up when you are creating a snapshot system restore, usually, the issue is tied with insufficient space or service stopping. We will go into detail about how to fix both so you can finish the operation without any issue.

1. Check Volume Shadow Copy Services

   Easier and faster fix than the next one. Launch Services from the Start Menu, look for Volume Shadow Copy, double-click on it, and check the Service status. If it is stopped, click on the Start button. If it’s running, restart it by clicking Stop > Start.

2. Increase Shadow Storage Space

   If the first fix didn’t resolve the issue then you need to increase Shadow Storage Space. Launch Command Prompt as an administrator. Now, type the following command to check your Shadow Storage Space. vssadmin list shadowstorage Now, type the following command to allocate more storage (you can change 10GB with the amount of space you want to allocate) vssadmin resize shadowstorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=10GB

There are times when you try to open a file, an executable file for instance, but were unable to do so since you encounter an error in an Open File – Security Warning dialog box that says, “This publisher has been blocked from running software on your machine, You must unblock this publisher to run this software”. This kind of error is most likely thrown by your operating system because it considers the file to be unsafe and could potentially harm your computer. However, if you’re certain that the file is harmless, read on as this post will walk you through fixing the error so you can open the file without getting an error. There are various options you can check out to fix the error. You may run the program using Command Prompt or unblock it using File Properties. You could also try turning off SmartScreen or use the unblock file command in Windows PowerShell.

Option 1 – Try running the program via Command Prompt

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “cmd” in the field and hit Enter to open Command Prompt.
• Next, tap the Shift key and right-click on the program or the executable file, and then select the “Copy as path” option.
• After that, paste this path in the Command Prompt window and tap Enter to open the program.

Option 2 – Try to unblock the file using File Properties

• Right-click on the file you were trying to open and select Properties.
• Next, click the Unblock button and then click on the Apply and OK buttons.
• You should now be able to open or access the file without getting the error.

Option 3 – Turn off SmartScreen

The next thing you can do is to turn off SmartScreen temporarily. All you have to do is open the Windows Defender Security Center and from there, go to the App & browser control section. After that, click on the radio button for Off under Check apps and files. Once you’re done, try opening the file again. Don’t forget to enable the SmartScreen back on.

Option 4 – Try to use the Unblock-File command in PowerShell

You might also want to utilize the Unblock-File command in Windows PowerShell as it will unblock the file so you can open it. To execute this command, follow these steps:

• Tap the Win + X keys and then click on Windows PowerShell.
• After opening PowerShell, type or copy and paste this command and tap Enter to execute it: Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:Users<username>Downloads' | Unblock-File
• The command you entered will unblock all the files in the Downloads folder, assuming that’s where the file you were trying to open is stored. If it’s not, then replace the path with the path where the file is located. Take note to also replace “<username>” with your Username.
• Now check if the file has been unblocked by accessing or opening it.