"Your current security settings do not allow this file to be downloaded"

[LesD]

One for the archive should you ever be in need of this tip. 

Have you ever received a pop-up box with this message in it:

"Your current security settings do not allow this file to be downloaded"

when attempting to download an item from a website?

I did and it turned out that it was to do with IE7 Restricted Sites.   
First thing I did was to return all my Security Setting to the defaults with no success.
Futher investigation revealed that something or the other that had been run on my machine had put hundreds of entries in the Restricted Sites list and despite searching for the site I wanted to download from and removing it from the Restricted Sites list the problem persisted. I think this was most likely because I had not found and removed all of the variants. For example www.website.com is one form I found another was *.website.com etc.

After much Googling for information about Restricted Sites I found some information that led me to delete all the keys under these three locations in the registry:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains
HKU\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains

Eureka after a Restart the problem was fixed and I could download the item I wanted. 

I had such a lot of keys in each of the three locations under Domains that I resorted to exporting everything under Domains to a file that I called Domains.reg and using Notepad to delete everything except the Domains entry at the top of the file. With the edited file saved, a double left click on it puts its contents back into the registry in the modified form. I did this for all three Domains locations and all was well.

If you are not familiar with editing the registry this may not be for you and if you are, do as I say (not as I did  ) and back up the registry before you start just in case!   

[Sebby]

Thanks, Les, it's always useful to know these things.

[Danni]

Thanks Les. I'll keep that in mind in case anyone ever asks me about this

[Rik]

Great tip, Les, thanks. 

[Niall]

What exactly was the something or other you ran to add hundreds of additions to your setup? Sounds like a very bad slip from a personal security point of view.

[LesD]

What exactly was the something or other you ran to add hundreds of additions to your setup? Sounds like a very bad slip from a personal security point of view.

I wish I knew so that I don't run it again. This suggestion I found on the site I Googled to was that some Registry Cleaner or Spyware finder may have been responsible. The "how can you possibly not want these entries" idea being that they were for my protection and personal security rather than the other way round as you put it. There certainly were a load of the known bad ones like doubleclick and some obvious porno sites going by the names. Another downside I read of about using this list for protection is that the browser check through it as each page loads and can slow you down quite noticeably when the list gets too big.

I wish I had kept a note of the site address but I didn't I am afraid.

I had run RegCleaner and Reg Cure some time ago and have Ad Aware to run when the mood takes me but I do not know what it was that added so many entries in my Restricted Sites list!

My faith lies in my PREVX2 for my protection that is always active and on both of my machines, only one of which was affected, so I know it wasn't PREVX. In fact I was in touch with their support guys before I found the solution and they were interested and helpful.

[LesD]

I have not been able to find the original thread that helped me out but there is some info about possible programs that adds sites to your Restricted Sites list here:

http://forum.vnunet.com/thread.jspa?messageID=702399

Here is the definitive word about it: 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/182569