Is Kaption safe to run?

SmartScreen shows "unknown publisher" because the installer is not code-signed during open beta. Authenticode certificates run ~€400/yr — we are parking that cost until the beta graduates and conversion justifies it.

To proceed: click More info, then Run anyway. This is the standard path for every unsigned indie app. Microsoft Defender itself (the actual antivirus engine behind the prompt) returns a clean scan on the binary — SmartScreen is only evaluating reputation, not threat content.

Notice the .ml.score suffix. That is not a signature hit against known malware — it is a prediction from a machine-learning classifier. The model has seen features in Kaption's binary that also appear in bad files, so it errs on the side of a warning.

Three of those features apply to us today, and none of them are malicious:

• Unsigned binary. No Authenticode certificate yet (~€400/yr). Every unsigned indie app pays the same penalty with ML-based scanners.
• Low prevalence. Kaption is in open beta. Reputation telemetry has not seen the hash on enough clean machines to mark it as "known good" yet. Every new release resets that counter.
• Installer that extracts nested executables. Our auto-updater (Velopack) ships the app as a compressed package inside Setup.exe and unpacks it on first run. Structurally that is similar to a dropper, even though we are just an installer.

The real signal is the VirusTotal row: Microsoft Defender and ~70 other engines mark the file clean. A proper code-signing certificate is on the roadmap for when the beta graduates — that typically clears the last ML-based heuristic flags too.