

I did find this Microsoft Docs article that had instructions to disable PUA using Group Policy. The warning comes back every couple of days or after every reboot. Unfortunately all of these are temporary. Clicking on "App & browser Control" takes you to a screen where you can dismiss the warning under " Reputation-based protection." Clicking on "Reputation-based protection settings" brings up yet another option to dismiss it next to " Potentially unwanted app blocking." You can see the option to dismiss the notification under "App & browser Control" when you click the icon. Thanks to this, I now have an annoying yellow warning sign ⚠️ in my task bar which I would like to get rid of. The good news is that Microsoft has made it easy to switch the feature back off if it’s not something you find value in.The Windows update included a new feature to block potentially unwanted applications(PUA). This is a good change overall but some people will find it bothersome. If that happens you can create exclusions in Microsoft Defender to keep it from identifying an app you actually want to use as unwanted.

If you decide to leave the feature enabled you may note that it occasionally blocks legitimate apps. Turning it off entirely will disable both functionalities. However it will leave the functionality enabled so that Microsoft Edge can use it to block unwanted downloads automatically. If the App Blocking box is unchecked it will disable Microsoft Defender’s ability to block PUAs.

Note that on this screen there are two check boxes: Block Apps and Block Downloads. Once you’re on that page you will see the option to turn off the PUA Blocking feature. Select Reputation-Based Protection Settings.Open your Windows Security setting screen.If you fall into that category you can disable PUA blocking thusly: The system isn’t perfect and some users may not want Windows doing their thinking for them. When the feature was first introduced it was turned off by default. This new feature employs Machine Learning to determine if an app is Potentially Unwanted by a user and block that app if such a determination is made. It wasn’t something that got a lot of press but it’s a change well worth knowing about.īeginning with the May 2020 update for Windows 10, 2004, the Redmond Giant added a PUA blocking feature to Microsoft Defender. Microsoft made a small but significant change to Windows 10 recently as it relates to PUAs (Potentially Unwanted Apps).
