Google Chrome currently blocks all downloads from the 3rd party Portable Apps website and returns “dangerous” as the reason for this.
Portable Apps is a popular destination for downloading Windows apps that don’t need to be installed. The site maintains a large list of programs for Windows that users around the world can download; this includes portable versions of programs that do not officially support one.
Google Chrome users who have tried to download apps from portable apps in the past two days have noticed that the browser’s built-in Safe Browsing feature is blocking downloads. Chrome blocked the download and returned “unsafe” as the reason.
Downloads in other browsers continue to work. Firefox, which uses a special version of Google’s Safe Browsing, downloads files very well. Brave, which uses Google Safe Browsing, blocks downloading just like Chrome. Microsoft Edge warns users that the files are not commonly downloaded, but does not mark the downloads as malicious. Other browsers may display warnings or allow downloads directly.
Chrome shows a primary action – delete – in the browser’s download panel after initiating a download from portable apps. A click on the small arrow to the right of it displays information and an option to keep the download.
The box “I understand that this download will harm my computer” must be checked before the Continue Download button becomes active. The scary message goes beyond it this time, as downloaded programs are tested properly on Google’s Virustotal service. There may be a small number of false positives, but not all major antivirus engines detect threats in downloaded files.
Portable Apps has started redirecting downloads to SourceForge for the time being to allow Chrome users to download files unhindered.
A post on the official website reveals additional information on the matter. According to the post, Portable Apps first noticed the issue on July 23, 2022. The carriers have requested a review of the issue, but have yet to receive a response from Google.
It appears that they have also contacted third-party antivirus vendors, who flagged the files as problematic on VirusTotal.
It’s unclear at this time why Safe Browsing flags the files, but they don’t appear to be malicious. The problem will probably be fixed in the near future.
Now you: do you use portable apps (via Born)
Summary
Article name
Google Chrome blocks all downloads from portable apps
The description
Google Chrome is currently blocking all downloads from the 3rd party Portable Apps website and returning the “dangerous” reason for this.
Author
Martin Brinkman
Editor
Ghacks Technology News
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