I just read this gem. It's one of those features one says, "YES!!!" to...until it suddenly dawns on you, "What if this supposedly perfect, ultimate, unhackable (really?), tin Gd security tool doesn't whitelist your favorite, or worse, essential work apps? Then what are you to do when you're literally up that malodorous creek without a paddle?
According to PCMag,
"One of the more useful upcoming features within Windows 11 carries with it a major pain point: you’ll need to reset your PC to use it.
Security was arguably one of the fundamental reasons for launching Windows 11, as Windows 11’s restrictive hardware requirements proved. And more are on their way. “In a future release of Windows 11 you’re going to see significant security updates that add even more protection from the chip to the cloud by combining modern hardware and software,” David Weston, vice president of OS security and enterprise at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post on Tuesday...
One of those key features is Smart App Control, which Weston described as a “major enhancement to the Windows 11 security model.” Simply put, Smart App Control uses similar techniques as SmartScreen, the protections Microsoft built into Edge, to protect your PC. While SmartScreen uses various signals to alert you that a website might attack your PC via malware or a phishing attack, Smart App Control is baked into the Windows 11 operating system to provide similar protections against malicious apps you may download without truly knowing if they’re safe or not. Each new app that’s run on Windows 11 is checked against this threat intelligence to determine if it will be potentially harmful or not...
Early Windows 11 adopters, however, will essentially be penalized. If you buy a new PC with Windows 11 pre-installed, Smart App Control will automatically be installed. Older devices won’t. “Devices running previous versions of Windows 11 will have to be reset and have a clean installation of Windows 11 to take advantage of this feature,” Weston wrote.
Microsoft has always said that its own Microsoft Store is vetted and will provide secure, trusted apps. But Windows has always allowed users to “sideload” third-party apps and games, and it’s these apps, utilities, and games that Microsoft will more closely inspect...
Microsoft is also baking Microsoft Defender SmartScreen into the OS, which will help protect users from phishing attacks. Presumably, that protection would be available no matter which email client you use..."
So, you early adopters can look forward to a reset and clean install of W11 on your machines. As this pertains to Stardock apps, I see no reason they should give even the vaguest hiccup to this new feature, but logic and reality sometimes are not fully congruent.
So, returning to my question at the onset of this article, "What if your vital work or pleasure apps don't get whitelisted on the reinstalled or on a new W11 computer?". What's your recourse?
I refer you to Jafo's favorite error message:
