Auto-generated Zone Files

EDIT: (December 10th)

At the time of authoring this question...

...I didn't really have a clue as to why the ...:Zone.identifier files were being created, or even when they were being created. It seemed very intermittent.

Now, I realize...

...I trigger their creation when I move files from my machines NTFS file system, into my machines EXT4 file system. If it makes a difference, I hotdrop — or drag n drop — when moving the files, and I use the WSL Application GWSL to open the EXT4 file system.

RECREATING

To recreate the issue (if you can call it an issue), really I believe windows is acting as it should be expected to, I just don't want windows creating them, but at this point I don't know if that's a bad idea. Either way, to recreate the issue, you should see them created by drag & dropping a file from your Windows 10/11 file system into your Linux WSL EXT4 File system.

END OF EDIT

ORIGINAL POST

First, I'd like to point out that I researched this topic, and was surprised, to find that :Zone.identifier files are a feature that has been implemented by Microsoft, in their Windows Operating Systems, for quite some time now. They started using the feature pre-WSL when a non-integrated VM was required for using Linux in a Windows environment. What is most surprising is it doesn't seem to bother many people, but having files, files that I never knowingly gave permission to create, popup all over my file-system, is driving my bonkers. As far as I can tell, or from what I have gathered around the internet, the files allow windows hidden files to be created in the Linux Operating System that runs in WSL (or WSL2 in my case). In truth, I don't fully understand the purpose for the implementation of the :Zone files feature (or concept if you will). The most I have come to gather, is that they have something to do with creating hidden files, but I can't find a clear answer on this topic, and I wish I could find out more about these files. Most importantly, though, is my question...

"How does a person go about disabling the feature responsible for creating :Zone.identifier files? And what are the consequences of doing so?"

My search returned this post on the SuperUser sister site Ask Ubuntu. Unfortunately, even though it answers my question, it answers it for the much older Windows Version/Edition: Windows XP. I figure that it's still a security policy, as shown in that post, but navigating to it seems to have changed.

FYI, I am asking because I don't want to go and start playing with configurations that I don't know what they do. I got work stuff on my computer that would be catastrophic to lose. I want to know what I am doing before I just go flipping switches.

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