Download
ACDO for Windows
Version 1.0.0 · Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit · installs for your user account only, no administrator password needed.
— · free for 14 days
Windows will warn you. Here is why, and what to do.
When you run the installer, Windows will show a blue box that says “Windows protected your PC” and tells you that Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognised app from starting. Your browser may also say the file “isn’t commonly downloaded” before the download finishes.
Neither message means the file is harmful. Both mean the same thing: Windows does not recognise who published it. A publisher becomes recognised by buying a code-signing certificate — a few hundred dollars a year, plus an identity verification process that takes weeks. ACDO has not bought one yet. We would rather explain the warning honestly than let you meet it unprepared.
We are not asking you to ignore a security warning. We are asking you to check the file yourself first. The steps below let you confirm you have exactly the file we published, byte for byte. If the hash does not match, stop and email us.
Step 1 — Verify the file you downloaded
Open PowerShell, and run this against the file in your Downloads folder:
Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 "$HOME\Downloads\AcdoSetup-1.0.0.exe"
The Hash value it prints must match this exactly. Compare
the whole string, not just the first few characters:
REPLACE-WITH-REAL-SHA256
If it matches, the file is the one we published and has not been modified on its way to you. If it does not match, delete it and write to support@acdo.app before running anything.
Step 2 — Get past the warning
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If your browser blocks the download
In Chrome or Edge, open the downloads list, find AcdoSetup-1.0.0.exe, and choose Keep. Edge may ask a second time under … → Keep anyway.
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Run the installer
Double-click AcdoSetup-1.0.0.exe. The blue SmartScreen box appears.
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Click More info
It is the small link in the middle of the box, easy to miss. The box expands and shows the app name and publisher.
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Click Run anyway
This button only appears after you click More info. The installer then starts normally.
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Finish the installation
ACDO installs into your own user folder, so Windows will not ask for an administrator password. When it finishes, ACDO is in your Start menu.
You will see this warning once. After the installer has run, Windows stops flagging it, and updates installed from inside ACDO do not show it again.
When will the warning go away for good?
When we buy a code-signing certificate. It is on the list, and it is a question of revenue rather than intent — a certificate costs real money every year, and we would rather fund it from subscriptions than from a launch we have not earned yet. When ACDO is signed, this page will say so, and the warning will stop appearing for everyone.
Build details
| Version | 1.0.0 |
|---|---|
| File | AcdoSetup-1.0.0.exe |
| SHA-256 | REPLACE-WITH-REAL-SHA256 |
| Build ID | REPLACE-WITH-BUILD-ID |
| Requires | Windows 10 version 1809 or later, 64-bit |
| Installs to | Your user profile — no administrator rights required |
The build ID is also shown inside ACDO on the Licence screen, so you can confirm the version you are running is the one you downloaded.