Download "Blocked"?

Some browsers (notably Microsoft products including Edge and Internet Explorer) will display a message that the download was "...blocked because it could harm your device."

DON'T PANIC!

This is Microsoft's and Windows' way of attempting to protect you.  It happens because many of Geocosm's products are exclusive to consortium members and are not publicly available and so Microsoft isn't generally familiar with them.  For this reason, they are marked as "dangerous" simply because they are not common downloads.

Rest assured that our products are scanned for viruses before we publish them and so are as safe as we're able to make them.

Fortunately it's easy to download our software but in this situation it takes just a couple of extra steps (please note: these guidelines are specifically for Edge and your experience may be slightly different depending on your particular situation):

When you see the blocked message in your browser (generally in the lower-left of your screen) you'll see something like the following screenshot.

Simply click on the ellipses (as indicated by the red arrow in the above screenshot) - then click the option to Keep.

You will normally then be prompted by the SmartScreen service regarding how you'd like to proceed...

Click the arrow next to "Show more", then click Keep anyway.

Great!  You've now been able to download and save the software installation file but...

Nothing Happens When I Double-Click the Installer...

This is also part of SmartScreen service - even though you've convinced the browser and SmartScreen to download and keep the file it has still been blocked from running by Windows.  There's just one more step:

First you need to find the file you just downloaded.  You can do this in many ways but here are some common options:

• If you're still in the Downloads page of your browser from the previous steps, simply locate the file in the list, then click the Show in folder option.
• If you've left the Downloads page you can re-open it by clicking the ellipses (...) icon near the top-right corner of your browser, then click Downloads.  As above simply locate the file in the list of downloads then click the Show in folder option.
• Finally you can find your file manually using File Explorer.

Regardless of the method you used above you should now see the file in File Explorer.

Right-click the file then select Properties then select the General tab.

Towards the bottom of the tab you may see a message that the file came from elsewhere (another computer or the internet) and "...might be blocked..."

Check the Unblock box then click OK.

If you don't see the checkbox or the blocked message then the file is already unblocked and requires not further action.

Your file should now be ready to go and should successfully run.