New Update Smart App Control - Windows 11 22H2 feature promises significant protection from malware

[lokamoka820]

I encountered a "partial" block of Chromium and what I found was interesting. Windows was blocking access to any Chromium webpage, either official or 3rd party site. This seems to indicate that SAC does more than what is documented by MS. I wonder if any members have ideas or info regarding this phenomenon.

I asked Bing's AI about SAC, and it replied as follows:

Smart App Control (SAC) primarily blocks untrusted or potentially harmful applications from running on Windows devices. It is designed to prevent malicious software and potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) from executing before they are verified as safe. While it can block certain websites and applications, it is not limited to just blocking apps; it also acts as a security layer against malware and PUAs by evaluating applications based on their reputation and digital signatures.

But I couldn't find any evidence about website blocking.

 

[oldschool]

I encountered a "partial" block of Chromium and what I found was interesting. Windows was blocking access to any Chromium webpage, either official or 3rd party site. This seems to indicate that SAC does more than what is documented by MS. I wonder if any members have ideas or info regarding this phenomenon.

A clean install or reset would be needed to re-enable SAC.

Bumping these two posts to @Andy Ful.

I assume the web blocking I encountered was due to Smartscreen but it wasn't the usual SS block page, just black (failure to load). So SS and SAC work together but it's not obvious to the average user what the interaction (or relationship) is. However, it's quite clear to me that the SAC block and web page blocks were related, at least in terms of timing.

How to turn Smart App Control Back on - Microsoft Q&A

ChatGPT indicated I needed to turn off the Smart App control in order to download the software to enable movie audio in Windows 11. What wasn't indicated was that it would require a reset of Windows 11, which I discovered was necessary when I went to…

learn.microsoft.com

It seems a reset of the PC is still required to turn SAC back on after disabling it in spite of the new settings in the SAC UI. Microsoft has not changed its documentation to indicate otherwise.

 

[oldschool]

MS hasn't yet rolled out the new SAC settings page here. I suppose it will be later in the year.

 

[Parkinsond]

MS hasn't yet rolled out the new SAC settings page here. I suppose it will be later in the year.

They sais it will be rolled out gradually (in phases).

 

[oldschool]

Here's a surprise result the infamous PCSC posted last year. Don't know if it was posted before on MT.

 

[Parkinsond]

Here's a surprise result the infamous PCSC posted last year. Don't know if it was posted before on MT.

SAC is aggressively protective if you can live with its FP blocks.

 

[oldschool]

SAC is aggressively protective if you can live with its FP blocks.

Indeed, this protection won't fit for certain types of users.