... well, I know they came from the internet; I just downloaded them! Even plain HTML files can't be opened without clicking that stupid OK button.

Well, you'll be glad that the stupid OK button is there once the crooks have figured out how to cause a drive-by download in Safari plus launching that file (for example, exploiting that stupid "automatically open 'safe' files" setting that is sadly enabled in Safari by default).

Of course, there's some reason for Apple to put the safety warning there, but ... if you know downloaded the files, because you wanted to open them, why not just get rid of that dialog box once and for all?

That's the key issue here. If you downloaded them intentionally. If you didn't, that is the last barrier to save you from being pwned.

[robg adds: ... though I wish there were some user control over when it would appear (for instance, opening said HTML files shouldn't evoke a warning dialog). ...]

It should evoke that warning. By all means, it should. Because once you have downloaded that "HTML" file to your local volume, the Javascript inside that file gets a whole new set of privileges. For example, access to your local files (keyword: same origin policy).

Guys'n'gals, before you start tinkering with the security settings of your machine, you should be 200% sure what you're doing. This hint is downright dangerous.

> This hint is downright dangerous.

For the uninitiated, maybe. But then, no reason not to post it.

I know too many people who'll ignore the warning dialog once they are used to it. No harm then, if it doesn't come up at all anymore. For that to happen they need to search for a way to do so (or accidentially come across this page) and then *do* something about it (like moving the said plugin). This hint only shows *how*. Nothing will happen just by reading it.

Don't get me wrong: I appreciate your remarks - at least they make those, not sure about what they are going to do think about it again. But there is no reason to be come across so emotional and self-rightous. Nobody forces anybody to follow the hint. Free choice.

A short reply to fbitterlich:
Disabling this warning is the same risk than not disabling it - because when you're downloading lots of files a day you will never think "oh, is this a really safe file? where did I download it?" before pressing the "OK" button on the warning message.
This warning message is for me as for most of the people useless.

Downloading a file from the Internet is analogous to welcoming someone into your house. If you are downloading so many files from the Internet each day that you don't have time/energy to pause and consider whether each one is something that you trust, then it's like having a steady stream of strangers entering your house.
I.e. in that case, security is already a lost cause and you'd better have inside defences like those of heavily touristed buildings like the Empire State Building.

The confirmation dialog is useful for those with a more normal level of "incoming" - it's analogous to having a "peephole" in your door so you can see who is knocking.

because when you're downloading lots of files a day you will never think "oh, is this a really safe file? where did I download it?" before pressing the "OK" button on the warning message.

Totally agree with parent. Those were wise words. You do NOT always know where things come from. As parent says, it's there to alert you to possible drive-bys. The whole quarantine system in launch services in 10.5 is there to protect you.

This is a an old thread, so I'll stick my head up and see what happens: With Safari's new architecture does anyone know how to disable this critter in Safari 5?

What annoys me most is not the verification dialog, but change of focus to Finder when you click that OK button and the app launches in the deepest background i.e. u have to do Command+Shift+Tab to get it focused front.

It shouldn't have been difficult for Apple to bring back the focus to the launched app by makeKeyAndFrontWindow or so. Or, can that plugin be modified to achieve this behavior?

Amen! I don't mind the warning so much as I hate that when I click OK, the app no longer opens up in front. It's incredibly annoying.

Thing is, I don't remember if it's always done it or how long ago it started. For some reason I don't remember it always happening.

Every day I'm downloading updates for some apps on my Mac, and it may be weeks before I actually use one of them. So its nice to have the system remind me when I've launched a version of an app that I haven't actually tried before.

FYI, the plug-in is present in 10.4.11. The warnings it generates--I'm not as sure about, as I don't recall being warned in the past about files downloaded from the Internet. I pulled it out of my Library folder and everything seemed to work exactly the same as before; I put it back and everything still worked.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051221220935102

http://www.davinian.com/os-x-leopard-are-you-sure-you-want-to-open-it/

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Mind the gap...

[ Reply to This | # ]

I disabled the plugin (thanks for the hint) as my browsing habits/personality/conditioning have already rendered it useless. I simply have seen this warning too many times for it to be effective. I am conditioned to click "ok". Perhaps I should be more careful, but I'd argue the plug in designers should have been more careful to design something that didn't so quickly become annoying and so easily dismissed without conscious thought.

I get the feeling the only reason this plugin exists is to placate the security police.

MacPilot, which is shareware, can turn also this warning off.

Great! Can you explain how, please?

The warning may be annoying most of the time, but I'd say it's worth keeping, if only because then if anyone ever figures out how to make safari (or another browser) download and open a file without the user doing anything, THEN, you get a heads up that something funky is going on. If you're on your toes, you'll notice before the autopilot kicks in, and click cancel instead of OK. But if you're not, at least it's a warning that you just gave permission to run something you probably don't want to, and you can take appropriate steps to remedy the problem ASAP (like unplugging your ethernet cable and trying to find the task you just launched, and then searching out and crushing the whatever-it-was that you just downloaded.

Frankly I'm glad to get rid of ANY annoying or modal dialog that disrupts my working on a mac. I'm quite aware I can ruin my system blah blah, so be it.. it's all on me. I will take that risk and have a free flowing system anyday over this disruptive system that asks your preference for every action done. What's next "You are envoking multicore threading which leads to my processor heating up to nth degree, which means I'm going to compute, which means your doing something on your computer" Continue? No?

I am running the pre-release of Snow Leopard and the plugin does not appear to be in this location. I was not able to find it in any of the standard locations either.

And do you not get the download warning?

Meanwhile, I removed the VerifiedDownloadPlugin.plugin, and set both Saft and Onyx to remove the download warning, and I then restarted... and I still get the warning. What am I missing? (Intel Core Duo iMac , OS 10.5.8.)

That bundle doesn't exist in my /Library/Internet Plug-ins or ~/Library/Internet Plug-ins

Since this issue obviously never went away, and—for reasons that I never understand, there always seems to be a large amount of misunderstanding on how/why/what to fix it.

From digging in to this a bit to understand it better, only to see hundreds of recycled "solutions" coming from this site, I'll dump what I know:

when any file is downloaded, no matter the location or browser, a special flag that exists only on HFS+ filesystems is set called a quarantine (xattr +x)

So, use Safari/Camino/FF to grab a file, even if it comes inside a DMG, running a gui program will leave this.

Over the years, people have posted launched solutions and tons of AppleScript items to insert via a Folder Action, and that is the easiest way to remove the flag automatically. Since AppleScript has a full scope to Cocoa and the MetaData on files without any ScriptingAdditions, its simple quick and easy. Adding stuff like a growl notification and whatever else is not much harder.

Using launchd, if you have no problem setting it up, is also another "simple and easy" method, that would also probably have a better chance of being logged, since I have had problems with finder actions, even when not calling external scripts and programs, where the launchd method had similar errors or didn't produce the output to try and debug.I am sure all components below this have been improved since then but launchd has become much more flexible.

Modifying the com.apple.Safari.quarantine.plist or whatever was never an option I was fond of, even though I normally enjoy learning/using hacks, since apple could have easily implemented an undocumented way to stop this, and still never did after hundreds of people complained/submitted rdar reports. The quarantine is a good idea/concept, and, to me, if they really did not want you accessing this flag, it would have been excluded from AppleScript a long time ago. To me, if it can be done in AppleScript, it was meant to be mass scripted/used. One of the many talented developers who you can find via Google , even post on here, would have coded an InputMethod/SIMBL hack in an hour or so if it was not so accessible.

So, unless you have a specifc need and know how to go about it, as much as I absolutely hate AppleScript and refuse to use it, the AppleScript method is your best way. If you don't know what a launched.plist is, or enjoy the cli, going below this level is "complexifying".

Now, if you're up to learning a bit more about the system, there have been many "lets go a bit further" threads that have wound up on discussions relating to this very topic. One even had a c++ snip containing code to do nothing more than remove the +x flag from its metadata, which was done well but was 50 lines longer than my python script calling xattr directly. Since I am curious as to how the flag winds up on downloaded files, I'll continue the discussion on the forums since it goes beyond the scope of the discussion.

Summary: Files downloaded via Safari still come quarantined. Even with the 10.6 changes, (new?) requirements on writing quick applescripts that might make it more complex, the applescript method is your best bet for just removing the warning or using the power of applescript to postprocess certain files over to something like iTunes. In addition, this site and many top google hints have simple and effective examples for you to copy and paste.