I have a .NET application written in C# using Visual Studio 2012. I'm promoting the application through my own website and have it available for download. When downloading it in Chrome I get a message stating that my application is "not commonly downloaded and could be dangerous". Additionally, when I download my own application and execute it Avast sees it as suspicious and wants to run it in the sandbox.
Is there anyway I can prevent this from happening (without purchasing a certificate for signing)? I don't want potential users to run into this issue.
Edit: I am not doing anything malicious or using any hooks in my application. The application is just a small simple tool as you can see here.
Either you code-sign the App or you wait until a few thousands of people download your App, install it, not report it as garbage and then you get good-will grant from providers.