We have often talked about the Windows 10 and 8 integrated Windows Defender antivirus describing it as really minimal and essential. As written in the antivirus guide for Windows 10, Windows Defender, like any other antivirus, works well if users are cautious, if they don't click at random on every website and if they use the computer with common sense.
In companies then, where computers are protected by firewalls on the network and, often, by restrictions imposed by the administrator, Windows Defender is probably an excellent choice to protect computers without spending more money on commercial antivirus.
Just thinking about companies, Microsoft has upgraded to its antivirus by adding protection against potentially unwanted programs (PUP) or potentially unwanted applications (PUA) . Basically, a block has been implemented for those useless or malicious programs such as sponsors who accompany themselves with legitimate downloads and who install themselves with deception when going ahead without looking into the installation procedures. This feature was announced by Microsoft only for corporate users, but it can also be activated, with a change, on Windows 10/8/7 PCs.
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For those who are not sure what PUP or PUA means, just try to download a program like Java which, in its installation procedure, has always asked to accept the installation of another software that has nothing to do and that acts as a sponsors. These sponsors are usually crapware (junk), trial and purchase programs, applications that lead to sponsored game sites or completely useless or unwanted stuff on your computer.
We talked about PUPs several times in this blog and for example, in another article, we saw how to block adware downloads and always download from real links.
On Windows 10 PCs, protection from malicious and unknown programs is already activated, by default, in order to warn the user if there is a risk to install a program. By changing an option in the PC Security Center, you can completely block the installation of malicious apps and programs.
Then go to Settings, click on Update and Security and then on Windows Security . Press, on the right side, the button that opens Windows Security . In the screen that opens, click on App and browser control .
Among the options, put on Block under the item Check App and File .
Another way to enhance the Windows Defender antivirus and activate the PUP or PUA protection, which I remember is already included and active on each PC unless you are using a different antivirus, you must follow the following procedure :
- From the Start menu, search for regedit and open the registry editor.
- From the tree on the left expand the following folders:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows Defender
- Right click on Windows Defender and create a new key giving the name MpEngine .
- Now press the right button on MpEngine and create a New DWORD (32-bit) giving it the name MpEnablePus
- Double click on MpEnablePus (on the right side of the screen) to give it as value 1.
The value 0 disables protection for potentially unwanted applications while the value 1 activates it.
- Restart your computer.
After this change, every time it is downloaded or if you try to install a program marked as PUP or unwanted, a warning is displayed. The PUP file is quarantined and prevented from executing. If you think that a program has been wrongly identified as a PUA, you can still run it by removing it from the quarantine in the antivirus history.
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