Before you install.

Last updated October 18, 2026

Windows says "Windows protected your PC." Is Sorta safe?

Yes, if you downloaded it from sorta.photos. Here is what that screen is, how to check the file is really ours, and how to continue.

What the screen is

The blue "Windows protected your PC" box is Microsoft Defender SmartScreen. It is not a virus warning. SmartScreen keeps a reputation score for every installer it has seen, and it warns about any file that has not yet been downloaded and run by enough people, whoever made it. Every new program from a new publisher gets this screen at first, signed or not. The warning fades as more people install it; there is no fee or form that removes it faster.

How to check it is really Sorta

• Download only through the button on sorta.photos. It fetches Sorta-Setup.exe from our releases page on GitHub (github.com/Tito79512/sorta-releases); we do not distribute the installer through download sites.
• This release is not yet code-signed, so the warning's publisher line reads "Unknown publisher." That is expected for this version; the next one will carry our name.
• To be certain the file is ours, compare its fingerprint with the one in the release notes on that GitHub page: open PowerShell in your Downloads folder and run Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA512 .\Sorta-Setup.exe, and check the result against the SHA-512 in the notes for that version.

How to continue

1. Click More info.
2. Click Run anyway.

If the Run anyway button is missing, your PC's administrator has set SmartScreen to block rather than warn; ask them, or use the Microsoft Store version when it is available, which installs without this screen.

Why a small company can't just make it go away

SmartScreen's score comes from how many PCs have run a file. A brand-new release starts at zero even when it is signed with a valid certificate; Microsoft stopped giving extended-validation certificates an instant pass in 2024. So the honest answer is that the warning is a sign Sorta is new, not a sign something is wrong. We sign every release with the same certificate, which is how reputation accumulates over time. Once signing is in place, Sorta's own updater takes over for later versions: it checks the new installer's signature and fingerprint before it runs, and installs only when you say so.

If Defender quarantines the file

Very rarely, a fresh release trips a false positive in Microsoft Defender or another antivirus. If that happens, please email support@sorta.photos with the name the antivirus gave it; we report it to the vendor the same day, and the fix usually ships in their next definitions update. You can also report it yourself at Microsoft's file submission page.

What Sorta does not do

Sorta runs on your PC. It has no account, no cloud and no analytics, and your photos are never uploaded. The Privacy page lists every time it uses the internet.

More

• Why Windows only shows some of your iPhone photos, including what to do when the originals are in iCloud.
• Email support@sorta.photos. A person answers.