BleepingComputer.com: Annoying "blocked" file downloads

I have found in one client's machine that any and all downloads are coming in "blocked"; that is to say that anytime a file is downloaded (and it doesn't matter the method; we have tried Firefox, IE6-8, Opera [ugh], Chrome, even p2p via a LogMeInRescue session) it is labeled as "blocked" and requires that my client go into the properties and click "unblock" as he gets the message "this file came from another computer...". To do this with each download is simply irritating, and should not be. I could see this, perhaps, in a machine that was at one point infected (this computer has recently been wiped and clean-installed), or one with Business/Pro/Ultimate on it and connected to a domain (but it is a Vista Home Premium system, hence no gpedit.msc), but at the moment I am at a complete loss. The real problem for the customer is that his job entails having documents sent to him constantly, which he must print out, sign, scan, and resend. Attempting to print any of these documents results in only the first two pages printing unless "unblocked". He must follow this procedure (or so he says) because it must be hand-signed, and a digital signature stamp won't cut it.

The accepted solution for this seems to be to go into gpedit.msc and enable "Preserve Zone Information...", but as I have said, gpedit.msc doesn't exist on this machine. Alternatively, some have mentioned using the GroupPolicy->Registry reference guide released by Microsoft, but it points to a key (Attachments!DoNotPreserveZoneInformation) that does not exist. This machine is fresh from a clean install, has all the latest updates, and I have even tried sequentially rolling-back updates to no avail. I have tried it without a security suite and with one. I have tried all the IE security settings that I can think of, and can find no Explorer settings that could (as far as I can tell, but if I'm wrong, it wouldn't be the first time) cause this.

Please help! Am I supposed to create this registry key? Is it hidden somehow even from an administrative profile? I got desperate to the point of activating the Administrator profile and trying that (I did subsequently deactivate it after the inevitable dead-end). I have tried TweakUI, WindowsWorx, and a whole plethora of slightly lesser-known tools to try to fix this. Since coming across this job, and while still trying to fix it, 2 more similarly afflicted computers have come into my shop. Is this a new Vista problem? I have tried rolling these machines back to SP0 even, but the problem doesn't go away. Please, please help!

-Joel

It occurred as the result of a microsoft update so far as I can determine. It started a few months ago, and it is right across the board from XP to Win 7. There is some discussion about it here.

http://www.nivas.hr/blog/2008/07/16/this-f...puter-well-doh/

There are some more recent comments and fixes in the link below.
http://superuser.com/questions/38476/this-...-the-files-in-a

Blathnat, on Jul 13 2010, 12:32 PM, said:

Any idea which update? Is this something that, on removing the update, will fix itself retroactively (if at all)? I've noticed that some updates continue to work their insane idea of magic even after removal, and am hoping I won't have to wipe this guy's computer AGAIN.

buddy215, on Jul 13 2010, 02:24 PM, said:

I see that the streams works, but won't work permanently. This guy won't want to have to run this utility every time he downloads. This is a very low level user, and is getting frustrated at having to unblock every file before doing something. Even doing it in batch on multiple files isn't going to cut it. If I can't find a solution that eliminates the need to unblock to begin with, I may very well lose a customer here.



Any replies would be a great help!