Streets & Trips 2009 Trial would not install -- file blocked

Something new every day!

I downloaded the trial file for S&T2009 from the MS website and burned it to a DVD as is my usual practice. Checked the DVD and then uninstalled S&T 2008 since I wasn't sure about installing on top.

Tried to run the exe from the DVD and it wouldn't -- Task Manager "Not Responding"

Tried to run the exe from my download file -- ditto.

Oh BTW MS Installer said it didn't know the source of the file and beware !!!! How right they are.

Scanned messages here and came across several about licencing error messages but none like this.

For some reason I decided to look at the properties of the downloaded file and found at the bottom of the General tab something I'd never seen before and I could not tell you how many files I've downloaded and installed:-

Some text to the effect: "This file came from another computer and has been blocked to protect your computer" together with a nice button marked [Drink Me] .... sorry that's a different story -- [Unblock] so I clicked on that and it grayed out for about 20 seconds then came back saying Unblocked and the exe ran perfectly to install S&T 2009.

Google on [file came from another computer blocked protect] for more about this but does anyone know where the block comes from and why now?

Until I Googled I thought it might be Norton Internet Security 2009 that I am using (wonderful development from earlier Nortons) but the format was not their style and it was an integral part of the Properties tab ... and no longer shows when you check the now unblocked file. So I assume it must be something MS have added but from the Google it seems to go back years.

Other oddity I've never seen in all the legions of S&Ts I've installed over the years is a popup that it had to install MS OFFICE Access database engine, was that OK by me .....

Very first impression is that the maps look prettier than before but I've not really checked out anything so far and I don't have a GPS.

The warning dialog comes from an unsigned file, or a file whose signature does not match. Your file may have been corrupted in download -- probably map data rather than program code, since you say it runs fine.

The rendering of the maps is the same as in 2008. This is a psychological effect caused by the prettier icons in S&T 2009. I had the same reaction initially. If you remove the chrome and compare just the maps, they look the same.

S&T maps do look out-of-date when compared to Microsoft Live Maps (which uses a derived rendering engine that has been tweaked to look nicer). Anti-aliasing, subtler colors, "glow" around text, etc.

IIRC there was a warning, from Microsoft, that the file was unsigned! However, with all the files I download I don't remember ever getting a "blocked" notice before this one and I know that many are unsigned.

I'm not going to try again even if it only look 1.5 hours to download on my 6000Kbps link that Microsoft could not fill!

On a different topic but still maps and images. Virtual Earth seems to have two images of our house -- I printed the Birds Eye View a couple of days ago and my car was not in the driveway as usuall shown and looking at the image on line again today the car is there although the resolution seems not quite so crisp.

Some of their aerial imagery is frightening. As well as just dropping my name and town into the search box, with no address, took me to my house.