Goofy developer questions

[Lars Brehmer]

I am just about to enroll in both the Mac and iOS developer programs and I have a few questions. I would also like to enroll with Microsoft for Windows (no mobile OS's) which raises even more questions.

First of all, I can't find any place on the Microsoft websites to register. Anyone have a link handy? I want to do this if only to avoid potential users getting that "allow this unknown developer to make changes to your computer" warning. How do they come up with that language anyway? It sounds like by installing a program the developer can install a slower CPU and plug your ports with chewing gum ;-) So how do I sign up?

And the weird question is this. Once I am a registered developer for these OS's, is there something in the standalone settings that allows the app to run/be installed without scary warnings? Just how does this work, especially for Windows, since the Mac warning isn't so scary, just something like "this app was downloaded from the internet." In the standalone settings, for OSX there is a place for "signature," but in the Windows part there is nothing that pertains to the developer ID. And does that signature even cancel the potential warning? How does that work? And how can a user's Windows machine know that the developer is recognized as legit?

So in a nutshell, how does this all work?

Cheers,

Lars