

In Internet Explorer 8 and later, SmartScreen also helps protect you from downloading malicious software. It is designed to help protect you from websites Microsoft believes are fraudulent that try to steal your personal information. When either of these are applied to a Windows 2012/2012 R2 system, it will configure the registry equivalent of "Give user a warning…").Microsoft Defender SmartScreen is a feature of Windows, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge. V1703 of Windows 10 or later administrative templates changed the policy name to "Configure Windows Defender SmartScreen", and the selectable options are "Warn" and "Warn and prevent bypass". Enabled is effectively "Give user a warning…".

V1607 of Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 changed the setting to only Enabled or Disabled without additional selections. Microsoft has changed this setting several times in the Windows 10 administrative templates, which will affect group policies in a domain if later templates are used. Value: 0x00000001 (1) (Give user a warning…)Ĭonfigure the policy value for Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer > "Configure Windows SmartScreen" to "Enabled" with either "Give user a warning before running downloaded unknown software" or "Require approval from an administrator before running downloaded unknown software" selected. Registry Path: \SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System\ If the following registry value does not exist or is not configured as specified, this is a finding: Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 Member Server Security Technical Implementation Guide Warning a user before running downloaded unknown software, at minimum, will help prevent potentially malicious programs from executing. Windows SmartScreen helps protect systems from programs downloaded from the Internet that may be malicious.
