GPU-Z Download Blocked by Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge Browsers

Chris4877 · Jun 21, 2022

Hi all,
The subject line says it all.
Also, CPU-Z downloads are being blocked as well.
Both of the above-named browsers are saying that these programs are viruses, (which I know isn't true), but neither browser offers any option to "download anyway."
Does anybody know of a workaround?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

P4-630 · Jun 21, 2022

Be sure to download

GPU-Z from https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-gpu-z/
CPU-Z from https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

No issues downloading here.

If that doesn't work for you , you might want to scan your system for virusses.

Voluman · Jun 21, 2022

On Edge version: 102.0.1245.44 is fine for me.
Check for update/antivirus/firewall settings?

Chris4877 · Jun 21, 2022

I've tried everything I could think of with Edge and Chrome, and a lot of Googling revealed that it's some kind of problem with Microsoft's SmartScreen Filter.
BTW, my Edge version is 102.0.1245.44. I tried the Chrome download a few days ago, but I've just re-installed Windows 10 and I haven't yet re-installed Chrome, so I can't remember the exact version, but that really shouldn't matter all that much, because Edge and Chrome are built on the same code base.
I've turned off SmartScreen in Windows Security settings, but it's making no difference at all.
From what I can gather, Chrome can be affected by it, but I still think it's pretty strange, because not only were GPU-Z and CPU-Z being blocked: Edge also blocked the Notepad++ x64 installer, and GIMP 2.0, also labelling them as viruses, with no workaround.
However, there is a bit of good news: Firefox is not affected by SmartScreen, and I can use Firefox to download just about anything I want.
Firefox is now my default browser.

P4-630 · Jun 21, 2022

Chris4877 said:
I've tried everything I could think of with Edge and Chrome, and a lot of Googling revealed that it's some kind of problem with Microsoft's SmartScreen Filter.
BTW, my Edge version is 102.0.1245.44.
I've turned off SmartScreen in Windows Security settings, but it's making no difference at all.
From what I can gather, Chrome can be affected by it, but I still think it's pretty strange, because not only were GPU-Z and CPU-Z being blocked: Edge also blocked Notepad++ installer, and GIMP 2.0, also labelling them as viruses, with no workaround.
However, there is a bit of good news: Firefox is not affected by SmartScreen, and I can use Firefox to download just about anything I want.
Firefox is now my default browser.

As I mentioned before, you might want to scan your system for virusses.
GL.

Chris4877 · Jun 21, 2022

P4-630 said:
As I mentioned before, you might want to scan your system for virusses.
GL.

I do daily scans, plus I have Real-Time Protection switched on, and my AV never finds anything.
Anyway, this is a fresh Windows 10 install, on a long-formatted HDD, (completely cleaned), it's a genuine Windows download from Microsoft. I won't install Windows 11 yet, I've already had one serious problem with it, and if I hadn't been doing daily disk image backups, I wouldn't have been able to get my Windows 10 installation back.
I'm just using Windows Security, I won't have a bar of Norton, because Norton has bought out almost every other well-known AV company, (AVG, Avast, to name just 2), and it's nearly impossible to get a paid AV program that isn't Norton.
Anyway, AFAIK, this machine is completely virus-free.

W1zzard · Jun 21, 2022

Is your system date/time correct? This could cause issues with certificate verification

http://imgur.com/68t2TfJ

Works for me

ThrashZone · Jun 21, 2022

^^^This^^^

You could also try in-private browsing if the system date/ clock is correct.

Chris4877 · Jun 21, 2022

System date & time are correct within ±1 msec.
I have no problem reaching the TechPowerUp website.
The problem is the actual file download.
Anyway, why does Firefox allow me to download and save the files?
According to Google Help, it's something to do with SmartScreen, but I'm not too sure about that, because Edge and Chrome are also blocking the download of other well-known executable installers, such as Notepad++, Media Player Codec Pack, and GIMP 2.0 (not from TechPowerUp, but from their respective official sites), and this is all occurring with SmartScreen disabled.

looniam · Jun 21, 2022

i don't use edge but chrome has some safe browsing settings that caused me to walk on the wild side. refusing sites/download where i know its safe from previous visits. update chrome, which it does on its own, and next thing i knew, the site/download would be "blocked"

i'll rely on my own habits since 1994 so no thanks

Naki · Jun 21, 2022

Can you give us a winver screenshot, please?
(You might want to edit out/erase any email address of yours, if listed there - should be near the end of the texts.)

I wonder how old or new your Windows 10 OS is.

Here is one from my PC -->

ThrashZone · Jun 21, 2022

Chris4877 said:
System date & time are correct within ±1 msec.
I have no problem reaching the TechPowerUp website.
The problem is the actual file download.
Anyway, why does Firefox allow me to download and save the files?
According to Google Help, it's something to do with SmartScreen, but I'm not too sure about that, because Edge and Chrome are also blocking the download of other well-known executable installers, such as Notepad++, Media Player Codec Pack, and GIMP 2.0 (not from TechPowerUp, but from their respective official sites), and this is all occurring with SmartScreen disabled.

Hi,
Smart screen filter is anything but smart
Just disable it in windows security or as you say firefox works so go with it.

Chris4877 · Jun 21, 2022

ThrashZone said:
Hi,
Smart screen filter is anything but smart
Just disable it in windows security or as you say firefox works so go with it.

I've already disabled SmartScreen, but it didn't make any difference.

Naki said:
Can you give us a winver screenshot, please?
(You might want to edit out/erase any email address of yours, if listed there - should be near the end of the texts.)

I wonder how old or new your Windows 10 OS is.

Here is one from my PC -->

View attachment 251895

I think my winver screenshot is the same as yours, except for the user name.

R-T-B · Jun 22, 2022

This sounds more like malware than SmartScreen.

ThrashZone · Jun 22, 2022

Hi,
You didn't say how in-private browsing went.

Chris4877 · Jun 22, 2022

R-T-B said:
This sounds more like malware than SmartScreen.

This copy of Windows 10 is a clean install I did less than 24 hours ago.
I cleaned the HDD, [DISKPART>CLEAN ALL], recreated the EFI System Partition, created the Windows Partition, long-formatted both partitions, restarted the machine. booted into UEFI from the USB stick which has the latest available genuine Windows 10 21H2 image, which was downloaded from the official Microsoft source and written to the USB stick by the official Windows image creator/writer, and installed Windows 10 on the Windows partition.
I did not install any other browser, because I wanted to see how Windows would behave with only the recommended browser.
The first thing I tried with the browser was to download and install CPU-Z and GPU-Z from the official TechPowerUp website, downloading from the SG server, as it's the closest to Sydney, Australia, and both downloads were blocked, because the programs were determined to be viruses.
Look at the screenshot below.

lexluthermiester · Jun 22, 2022

No problems downloading with Iron(Chromium fork).

Chris4877 · Jun 22, 2022

I can't see how there could possibly be any malware on my system.
It's a completely clean install, less than 24 hours old.
I've tried disabling SmartScreen, in both Windows Security and in Group Policy, but it has made no difference.
I have run a full scan of all drives on my system, including all attached removable drives.
Nothing has been found.
I just can't see how it's possible for there to be malware on my system after only 24 hours of use, and all Windows Security options set to maximum protection.
I don't visit dodgy websites, and I never click on ads, links in emails, not even in emails purporting to come from contacts.
And anyway, why does Mozilla Firefox download these programs with no problems?

lexluthermiester said:
No problems downloading with Iron(Chromium fork).

I don't even know what that is.
Anyway, in the present discussion, it's irrelevant, because I don't even have Chrome installed in any form.

lexluthermiester · Jun 22, 2022

Chris4877 said:
I can't see how there could possibly be any malware on my system.
It's a completely clean install, less than 24 hours old.
I've tried disabling SmartScreen, in both Windows Security and in Group Policy, but it has made no difference.
I have run a full scan of all drives on my system, including all attached removable drives.
Nothing has been found.
I just can't see how it's possible for there to be malware on my system after only 24 hours of use, and all Windows Security options set to maximum protection.
I don't visit dodgy websites, and I never click on ads, links in emails, not even in emails purporting to come from contacts.
And anyway, why does Mozilla Firefox download these programs with no problems?

Have you checked you system clock? You need to make sure it's not set to a future time for you time zone or HTTPS certs will fail.

Chris4877 said:
I don't even know what that is.

As described, it's a fork of the Chromium browser, which it what you mentioned in the title of the thread. Edge is a Chromium fork as well.

Chris4877 said:
Anyway, in the present discussion, it's irrelevant, because I don't even have Chrome installed in any form.

Ok, then why ask about it?

Chris4877 · Jun 22, 2022

lexluthermiester said:
Have you checked you system clock? You need to make sure it's not set to a future time for you time zone or HTTPS certs will fail.

As described, it's a fork of the Chromium browser, which it what you mentioned in the title of the thread. Edge is a Chromium fork as well.

Ok, then why ask about it?

I keep my system clock updated hourly, using the NetTime service. It is accurate to within ± 1 msec. Will HTTPS certificate fail if the System Clock is as little a 1 msec in the future?

I originally asked the question because it was occurring with my previous Windows installation, (the one I removed before I totally cleaned the HDD and downloaded and installed my current one).
I had tried both Chrome and Edge in the previous installation, and in fact, I posted this thread at that time.
Now that I have only Edge, I'm still experiencing the same problem.

Candor · Jun 22, 2022

Both Chrome and Edge (latest versions) have no issues downloading those files here.

Smartscreen settings are also at default for both browsers.

I can't imagine what's going on there.

lexluthermiester · Jun 22, 2022

Chris4877 said:
I originally asked the question because it was occurring with my previous Windows installation, (the one I removed before I totally cleaned the HDD and downloaded and installed my current one).
I had tried both Chrome and Edge in the previous installation, and in fact, I posted this thread at that time.
Now that I have only Edge, I'm still experiencing the same problem.

Ah ok. Have you tried Firefox?

Count von Schwalbe · Jun 22, 2022

Which of the following most describes the blocked files?

1. Specific executable files including CPU-Z
2. All executable files
3. All files from specific sites
4. All files

Chris4877 · Jun 25, 2022

Count von Schwalbe said:
Which of the following most describes the blocked files?

1. Specific executable files including CPU-Z
2. All executable files
3. All files from specific sites
4. All files

2

lexluthermiester said:
Ah ok. Have you tried Firefox?

Yes, and that's why I've made Firefox my default browser, in spite of Edge's constant complaining that it's no longer my default browser. :laugh:

Also, I've re-installed Chrome, and it's still doing the same thing as before, (blocking all executable files), saying that a virus was detected.
I've also (AFAIK), disabled SmartScreen through Group Policy, run gpupdate as Administrator, run lusrmgr as Administrator, added myself to the Device Owners Group, (Device Owners Group have even higher privileges than Administrators), rebooted, and nothing has changed: Edge and Chrome are still blocking the download of all executable files regardless of the download source, giving the error message, "Download blocked - virus detected."
Firefox downloads the files with no errors, and it's now my default browser.

P4-630 · Jun 25, 2022

Chris4877 said:
Also, I've re-installed Chrome, and it's still doing the same thing as before, (blocking all executable files), saying that a virus was detected.
I've also (AFAIK), disabled SmartScreen through Group Policy, run gpupdate as Administrator, run lusrmgr as Administrator, added myself to the Device Owners Group, (Device Owners Group have even higher privileges than Administrators), rebooted, and nothing has changed: Edge and Chrome are still blocking the download of all executable files regardless of the download source, giving the error message, "Download blocked - virus detected."

Scan your system for virusses.

System Name	GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Elite
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Elite
Cooling	GIGABYTE ATC800
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 4 x 16GB 2666MHz (Total 64GB, running in Dual Channel Mode)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon Pro WX3200
Storage	WD 2TB HDD; Samsung 2TB HDD x 2; WD 8TB HDD x 2
Display(s)	Samsung U28E590D 28" 4k Monitor
Case	Lian Li PC-60 (Very old case)
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC892 HD Audio 7.1
Power Supply	GIGABYTE Aorus P850W Fully Modular 850W
Mouse	Samsung PS/2 Mouse (2 Buttons + Scrolling Wheel)
Keyboard	Microsoft Natural Keyboard (PS/2)
VR HMD	None (I'm not a gamer)
Software	Windows 10 Pro 21H2; MS Office Pro 2019 (Retail)
Benchmark Scores	I don't know, and I don't care.

System Name	AlderLake / Laptop
Processor	Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz / Intel i3 7100U
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master / HP 83A3 (U3E1)
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans / Fan
Memory	32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MHz CL36 / 8GB DDR4 HyperX CL13
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
Storage	Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2 / Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD
Display(s)	23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p / 14" 1080p IPS Glossy
Case	Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window / HP Pavilion
Audio Device(s)	Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W / Powerbrick
Mouse	Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless / Logitech M330 wireless
Keyboard	RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless / HP backlit
Software	Windows 11 / Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock

System Name	GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Elite
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Elite
Cooling	GIGABYTE ATC800
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 4 x 16GB 2666MHz (Total 64GB, running in Dual Channel Mode)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon Pro WX3200
Storage	WD 2TB HDD; Samsung 2TB HDD x 2; WD 8TB HDD x 2
Display(s)	Samsung U28E590D 28" 4k Monitor
Case	Lian Li PC-60 (Very old case)
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC892 HD Audio 7.1
Power Supply	GIGABYTE Aorus P850W Fully Modular 850W
Mouse	Samsung PS/2 Mouse (2 Buttons + Scrolling Wheel)
Keyboard	Microsoft Natural Keyboard (PS/2)
VR HMD	None (I'm not a gamer)
Software	Windows 10 Pro 21H2; MS Office Pro 2019 (Retail)
Benchmark Scores	I don't know, and I don't care.

System Name	AlderLake / Laptop
Processor	Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz / Intel i3 7100U
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master / HP 83A3 (U3E1)
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans / Fan
Memory	32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MHz CL36 / 8GB DDR4 HyperX CL13
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
Storage	Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2 / Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD
Display(s)	23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p / 14" 1080p IPS Glossy
Case	Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window / HP Pavilion
Audio Device(s)	Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W / Powerbrick
Mouse	Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless / Logitech M330 wireless
Keyboard	RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless / HP backlit
Software	Windows 11 / Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock

System Name	GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Elite
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	GIGABYTE B450 Aorus Elite
Cooling	GIGABYTE ATC800
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 4 x 16GB 2666MHz (Total 64GB, running in Dual Channel Mode)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon Pro WX3200
Storage	WD 2TB HDD; Samsung 2TB HDD x 2; WD 8TB HDD x 2
Display(s)	Samsung U28E590D 28" 4k Monitor
Case	Lian Li PC-60 (Very old case)
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC892 HD Audio 7.1
Power Supply	GIGABYTE Aorus P850W Fully Modular 850W
Mouse	Samsung PS/2 Mouse (2 Buttons + Scrolling Wheel)
Keyboard	Microsoft Natural Keyboard (PS/2)
VR HMD	None (I'm not a gamer)
Software	Windows 10 Pro 21H2; MS Office Pro 2019 (Retail)
Benchmark Scores	I don't know, and I don't care.

GPU-Z Download Blocked by Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge Browsers

Chris4877

P4-630

Voluman

Chris4877

P4-630

Chris4877

W1zzard

Administrator

ThrashZone

Chris4877

looniam

Naki

ThrashZone

Chris4877

Attachments

R-T-B

ThrashZone

Chris4877

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lexluthermiester

Chris4877

lexluthermiester

Chris4877

Candor

lexluthermiester

Count von Schwalbe

Chris4877

P4-630

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

System Name	Ghetto Rigs x299 & z490 & x99
Processor	9940x w/Optimus Foundation & 10900k w/Black Noctua D15 & 5930k w/Reg-Noctua D15
Motherboard	X299 Rampage VI Apex & z490 Maximus XII Apex & x99 Sabertooth
Cooling	D5 combo/280 GTX/ VRM copper water block/280 GTX/ Optimus Foundation/ 1080ti FTW3
Memory	Trident-Z 3600C16 4x8gb & Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb & Trident-Z 3200c14 4x8gb
Video Card(s)	1080ti FTW3-On Loop & Titan Xp-w/ Only GPU loop & evga 980ti gaming-w/ air
Storage	Many sammy 2.5" ssd's 850 Pro/ 860 pro's for os & WD BLK's hdd's storage
Display(s)	1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
Case	D450 second floor for 2nd rad x2/ Cherry Entertainment center on Test bench
Audio Device(s)	Built in Realtek x2 with 2-Insignia 2.0 sound bars & 1-LG sound bar
Power Supply	EVGA 1200P2 & 1000P2 with APC AX1500 & 850P2 with CyberPower-GX1325U & a 750P2 unused
Mouse	Redragon Perdition x3
Keyboard	G710+x3
Software	Win-7 pro x3 and Linux Cinnamon 20.2x2 & win-10 & 11pro x3
Benchmark Scores	Are in the benchmark section

System Name	loon v4.0
Processor	i7-11700K
Motherboard	asus Z590TUF+wifi
Cooling	Custom Loop
Memory	ballistix 3600 cl16
Video Card(s)	eVga 3060 xc
Storage	WD sn570 1tb(nvme) SanDisk ultra 2tb(sata)
Display(s)	cheap 1080&4K 60hz
Case	Roswell Stryker
Power Supply	eVGA supernova 750 G6
Mouse	eats cheese
Keyboard	warrior!
Benchmark Scores	https://www.3dmark.com/spy/21765182 https://www.3dmark.com/pr/1114767

System Name	Main PC/OldPC/3rd PC
Processor	Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge/Core i5-3470 Ivy Bridge/Core i3-4330 Haswell
Motherboard	ASUS P8Z77-V/ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen1/ASUS H81M2
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO/Intel Box cooler/Intel Box cooler
Memory	32GB Corsair Vengeance/32GB ADATA/16GB ADATA
Video Card(s)	SAPPHIRE R9 290 Tri-X OC 4GB/MSI RX 480 8GB/SAPPHIRE R9 390 8GB
Storage	2x1TB ADATA SSDs in RAID0+3 HDDs/2xCrucial 1TB SSDs in RAID0+3 HDDs/Samsung 1TB SSD+8TB+4TB HDDs
Display(s)	Philips 274E5QHAB@HDMI + Philips 273EQH@DVI (both 27")
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Power Supply	Cooler Master Silent ProM 600 W (modular)
Mouse	Microsoft Ergonomic Sculpt Desktop 2.0 (combo)@Razer Goliath mousepad (Medium speed)
Keyboard	Microsoft Ergonomic Sculpt Desktop 2.0 (combo)
Software	Win10 64-bit (Main PC v.1809 RTM Enterprise/2nd PC v.1903 Insider Preview Pro/3rd PC - same as 2nd)

System Name	Pioneer
Processor	Ryzen R9 7950X
Motherboard	GIGABYTE Aorus Elite X670 AX
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 + A whole lotta Sunon and Corsair Maglev blower fans...
Memory	64GB (2x 32GB) G.Skill Flare X5 @ DDR5-5600
Video Card(s)	EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti FTW3
Storage	2x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
Display(s)	55" LG 55" B9 OLED 4K Display
Case	Thermaltake Core X31
Audio Device(s)	TOSLINK->Schiit Modi MB->Asgard 2 DAC Amp->AKG Pro K712 Headphones or HDMI->B9 OLED
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova 850W T2
Mouse	Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless
Keyboard	WASD Code v3 with Cherry Green keyswitches
Software	Windows 11 Enterprise (yes, it's legit)

System Name	Work Computer \| Unfinished Computer
Processor	Core i7-6700 \| Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard	Dell Q170 \| Gigabyte Aorus Elite Wi-Fi
Cooling	A fan? \| Truly Custom Loop
Memory	4x4GB Crucial 2133 C17 \| 4x8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 3600 C26
Video Card(s)	Dell Radeon R7 450 \| RTX 2080 Ti FE
Storage	Crucial BX500 2TB \| TBD
Display(s)	3x LG QHD 32" GSM5B96 \| TBD
Case	Dell \| Heavily Modified Phanteks P400
Power Supply	Dell TFX Non-standard \| EVGA BQ 650W
Mouse	Monster No-Name $7 Gaming Mouse\| TBD