Before you install
Windows will warn you about us. Here is why — and the two clicks.
The valstalker installer is not signed with a Microsoft-recognised code-signing certificate. When you run it, Windows will show you a blue window called Windows protected your PC, and it will tell you the publisher is unverified. The app is not broken and nothing is wrong with your PC — this page is the whole story.
What you will see, step by step
Two dialogs, thirty seconds. Nothing else will interrupt you.
The blue window
You double-click the installer. Windows Defender SmartScreen shows a blue shield and the words Windows protected your PC. It hides the buttons you need on purpose — that is the design working, not a bug. Click More info.
Windows protected your PC
Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk.
The unverified publisher
The window expands and shows the publisher row: Unverified publisher. That is the sentence Windows uses when a developer has not paid a certificate authority to vouch for them — it says nothing about what the file does. Click Run anyway. The installer opens.
Do you want to allow this app to run?
valstalker.exe is not commonly downloaded and could harm your device. Unverified publisher.
Name: valstalker
Publisher: Unverified publisher
File type: Application
That is all. No further warnings, no restart, no compatibility prompts. The app installs and runs like any other Windows program — this screen is a one-time event on first install.
Why we are not signed
A code-signing certificate is a paid subscription to trust. Reputable authorities charge hundreds of US dollars every year for one, and the cheapest tiers still require a registered business identity to issue. We are a small project shipping a free tool — paying that rent before it pays for itself would be the dishonest use of money, so we spent the honesty here instead.
Signed build
No warnings. Installs clean.
EV certificate — hundreds of USD per year
Broken build
Warnings on every install. Users churn.
No certificate at all
This page
One honest extra step. You keep the trust.
Costs you nothing — 60 seconds of reading
To be clear about what a certificate would change: not the code, not the privacy, not one byte of what the app does — only that Windows would show our name instead of a warning.
What you can verify yourself
A certificate proves who built a file. A checksum proves you received the file we built — and that check needs no certificate, no fee, and no trust in us at all.
Verify the file yourself, certificate or not
A certificate proves who built a file. A checksum proves you got the file we built. Paste this into PowerShell after download:
Get-FileHash .\valstalker.exe -Algorithm SHA256The output should begin:
9F 3A 21 5C …
The full SHA-256 for the current build is published on the download page the moment the installer ships.
The standing promise
When the project can carry the cost, the certificate comes and this page stays — with the warnings gone and this sentence updated. Until then, every warning you meet is explained above, and nothing about the app is hidden behind one.
Still unsure about running an unsigned binary? Ask us directly — requires the riot client. read-only — nothing is ever written to riot.