How can I make SmartScreen Filter trust a self-signed certificate

Question

Microsoft\'s SmartScreen Filter under Windows 8 is a small developer\'s worst nightmare.

While I realize the benefits to end users and the effectiveness at stopping

Answer 1

To quote from MSDN's website:

Detractors may claim that SmartScreen is “forcing” developers to spend money on certificates. It should be stressed that EV code signing certificates are not required to build or maintain reputation with SmartScreen. Files signed with standard code signing certificates and even unsigned files continue to build reputation as they have since Application Reputation was introduced in IE9 last year. However, the presence of an EV code signing certificate is a strong indicator that the file was signed by an entity that has passed a rigorous validation process and was signed with hardware which allows our systems to establish reputation for that entity more quickly than unsigned or non-EV code signed programs.

In other words, EV (paid) validation is just one factor in a large algorithm that determines whether the SmartScreen warning is displayed or not. If you have a lot of people that download your program, or if your program download link has not changed in a while, with some work you can get your program not to show the warning. Also, by digitally signing your code, you can increase your Appication Reputation. This is straight from Microsoft's webpage on the topic.