No day goes by without another post somewhere on the Internet that reveals yet another new Windows 8 feature. The latest is Long Zheng’s discovery of a SmartScreen Filter in Windows 8.
Many computer users know SmartScreen Filter from Internet Explorer or Windows Live Messenger where it is used to protect against phishing websites and malicious file downloads.
Microsoft is now porting that feature to their upcoming operating system, to give all users the same level of protection. The idea in itself is sound, considering that many users make use of different web browsers and other programs to download files.
The SmartScreen protection option is listed under Windows 8′s Folder Options.
Users find two settings under the View menu that define the SmartScreen module:
- Use SmartScreen to check files
- Never run downloaded programs that are unknown to SmartScreen.
The first option enables or disables SmartScreen on the system. It is not clear yet if the feature will be active by default, or if users will have to activate it manually before it protects the system.
A possible scenario would be to link it to the general UAC security settings, plus the additional option to enable or disable it individually.
The second option defines how unknown files, that is files that SmartScreen has no information about, are handled on the system. They can either be blocked outright, or allowed to be executed.
SmartScreen in this form is similar to antivirus software that uses a whitelist and blacklist approach. Files that are in the whitelist are considered clean and the user can execute them without interference. Blacklisted files on the other hand have been flagged as malicious and will be blocked from execution.
The two major problems of this method are false positives and unknown files. False positive refers to harmless files that are flagged as malicious. This can put a dent into a developer’s reputation, and increase user dissatisfaction with a product or service.
Unknown files on the other hand have not been tested yet by the service, which means that the file is not find in either of the lists yet. SmartScreen cannot determine if a file is malicious, which passes the ball back to installed security software on the system.
SmartScreen Filter will especially aid Windows 8 users who are not running security software with similar capabilities. If done right, it could improve security for every Windows 8 user, if done wrong it could vastly increase user frustration. What’s your take on the new SmartScreen feature in Windows 8?
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