Curious about Smart App and Defender


W

wa1fhy

Member
Local time
1:11 PM
Posts
13
OS
Windows 11
Dell Inspiron 15" laptop, Win 11 Build 22631.4037.

Can someone explain the connection between the Smart App Control and Windows Defender? I have been receiving almost daily "Security Intelligence Update for MS Defender AV" as shown in Reliability Monitor.

Exactly one month after the computer was put in service, the updates have stopped. Moreover, the Smart App Control has switched from evaluation mode to Off.

I have always had Windows Defender turned off since I am using another AV product. Am I to assume that it was the Smart App Control that basically requested Defender to be updated daily?

Just curious since I'm fine with the other AV product and don't care at all about Defender Updates. It just sort of bothers me that Windows does many things behind your back over various periods of time without you really knowing what's going on.
 
Windows Build/Version
22631.4037

My Computer My Computer

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Windows 1111th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz12 GBIntegrated IrisXE
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
Dell Inspiron 15
CPU
11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz
Motherboard
Dell
Memory
12 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Integrated IrisXE
Sound Card
Integrated/Realtek
Monitor(s) Displays
15"
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
NVMe Micron 2210 NVMe 512GB
PSU
N/A
Case
N/A
Cooling
N/A
Keyboard
N/A
Mouse
MS Optical Mouse 2.0 USB
Internet Speed
800 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up
Smart App Control breaks many apps, even MS made, like VisualC++, so you are not missing out anything.
It basically allows only a list of "reputable" apps plus digitately signed. You can simulate it with a tweak:
Code: 
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v "ValidateAdminCodeSignatures" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
If I try to run an unsigned app, I will get a warning, till I disable the tweak, it blocks roughly 99.99% exe malware. 🙂

capture_08312024_170627.jpg
 

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wa1fhy said:
I have always had Windows Defender turned off since I am using another AV product. Am I to assume that it was the Smart App Control that basically requested Defender to be updated daily?
Click to expand...
Incorrect assumption. SAC has no direct relation to MS Defender and doesn't require updates, though they share aspects of the cloud service. It uses the cloud reputation service and Intelligent Security Graph (ISG).
wa1fhy said:
It just sort of bothers me that Windows does many things behind your back over various periods of time without you really knowing what's going on.
Click to expand...
Do you have Periodic Scanning turned off? Defender will continue to update periodically even when you use a 3rd party AV.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro 25H2 26200.7840Intel Core i3-8145U16GB
OS
Windows 11 Pro 25H2 26200.7840
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
Lenovo IdeaPad L340
CPU
Intel Core i3-8145U
Memory
16GB
Hard Drives
500 GB M2 1 TB HDD
Internet Speed
400 MB
Browser
Chrome | Edge
Antivirus
Microsoft Defender | Block unknown executables | Various ASR rules enabled | Smart App Control
Periodic scanning is (and has been) set to Off. Defender has been turned off since the day I got the computer. It just seemed strange to me that I received the (almost daily) security intelligence updates for Defender for exactly one month, and haven't seen any more in the last 6 days. And that was about the time I noticed that the SAC had gone from evaluation mode to permanently off mode.

Oh well, not a big deal.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 1111th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz12 GBIntegrated IrisXE
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
Dell Inspiron 15
CPU
11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz
Motherboard
Dell
Memory
12 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Integrated IrisXE
Sound Card
Integrated/Realtek
Monitor(s) Displays
15"
Screen Resolution
1920x1080
Hard Drives
NVMe Micron 2210 NVMe 512GB
PSU
N/A
Case
N/A
Cooling
N/A
Keyboard
N/A
Mouse
MS Optical Mouse 2.0 USB
Internet Speed
800 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up
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