🔒How to Secure your Executables with Self-Signing Certificates 🔑
Channel: AUTOHOTKEY Gurus
Date: 2023-01-26

If you are getting warnings when launching an un-signed executable you can sign it with your own signature and get rid of that pesky warning.  Here we show you how to self-sign your executables.

http://the-Automator.com/SelfSignCert

TLDR: Self-signing applications with the Windows SDK and app certification kit can help avoid restart warnings.

1. 00:00 🔒 Sign your own scripts to avoid restart warnings.
 1.1 You can sign your own compiled scripts on your computer to avoid warnings when restarting.

2. 00:39 🔒 Download the Windows SDK and use the sign tool to sign your executable to avoid warnings.
 2.1 If an executable is not signed, it may trigger warnings depending on the computer's policy.
 2.2 Download the Windows SDK, create a certificate, export it to a file, and sign your executable with the sign tool.

3. 02:35 💻 Download the installer to get the app certification kit and advert verifier for Windows.
 3.1 Download the installer, select what you want to download, and install the app certification kit and advert verifier for Windows.

4. 03:28 🔑 Add the sign tool to your environment path or create a temp folder to self-sign applications and avoid warnings.
 4.1 To use the sign tool, you must add the path to your environment path, or create a temp folder and bring the tool and the file to it.
 4.2 You can self-sign any application to avoid warnings about it not being digitally signed.

5. 05:25 🔐 Create a certificate, set a custom name, and use it to convert a string into a secure string with a password.
 5.1 Create a certificate, set a custom name as the subject, and use the certificate and a password to convert a string into a secure string.

6. 06:47 🔑 Create a certificate, export it as a .pfx file, and sign the executable with the SHA-1 algorithm to ensure the user trusts your program.
 6.1 Create a certificate, export it as a .pfx file, and give it to the user to trust your certificate.
 6.2 Copy the command with the SHA-1 algorithm to sign the executable, then right-click on the program to view the digital signature.
 6.3 You can compile an executable file and delete the other files, but if you give it to someone else, they won't know who created it and the certification will be invalid.

7. 09:48 🔐 Use the Management Console to download a certificate to self-sign your programs and keep it updated.
 7.1 To add a certificate to your computer, use the Management Console program and find the certificate in the Personal folder.
 7.2 Download the file to self-sign your programs and update regularly.

8. 11:39 🔐 Use SHA-256 by passing it as a parameter and specifying 256 as the algorithm.
 8.1 To use SHA-256, pass the hash algorithm as a parameter and specify 256 as the algorithm.

Summary for https://youtu.be/YrSwU0lfn1Q by www.eightify.app