Tech Talk: Microsoft Keeping Us Safe?
 | Author:
Victor Sample
Vic Sample: MT43 News Treasurer |
Tech Talk: Microsoft Keeping Us Safe? Victor Sample Everybody should be concerned about security on their computing devices (PCs, tablets, phones, etc.). Scammers never take a day off – every single day they are trying to scam you. Even worse, they try to get you to download malicious software. Tery Artz asked me to teach a “Safe Surfing” class for the Adult Ed program and some of the stories people told about scamming attempts were just plain scary.
Microsoft has been doing a lot in Windows to keep your PC secure. Microsoft Windows Defender is built into Windows, is free and does at least as good a job as other security software that you have to have a paid subscription.
Quite often new PCs running Windows are sold with the “S” edition. The “S” edition of Windows does not allow the user to install software unless it comes from the Microsoft Store. Of course, that assumes the software is installed through standard installation processes – malware developers don’t usually follow standard procedures for infecting your computer with malware.
The problem with “S” mode is that it prevents the user from installing perfectly safe software that didn’t come through the Microsoft Store. If you want to install software that didn’t come through the Microsoft Store you have to disable “S” mode. That is a one-way trip. Once it is disabled it can’t be re-enabled. So much for that security measure!
This last weekend I wrote a new application for the MT43 News office staff to use to help create the various community calendars that are printed each week. I decided to put the installation program for the application on the internal website we use to manage the office processes. The office staff could just download the installation program, install the application and start using it.
I like to test everything before I turn it over AND I wanted to document the whole process of downloading it and performing the installation of the application. So, I went through the whole process myself.
I logged into the website and clicked on the link to download the installation program. I have been downloading install programs for years. Usually, I click on the link to download the software and the software downloads ready to be installed.
The new version of the Microsoft Edge browser has new security measures: when I clicked on the link Microsoft started the download but interrupted the process to tell me that the install program is NOT a commonly downloaded program. A small dialog box was displayed that prominently told me it was not commonly downloaded with a little tiny link that said: “see more”.
Clicking on the “see more” displayed a bigger dialog box that gave the options of 1) Deleting the download; 2) Keeping the Download or 3) Reporting the file is safe.
I thought I would report the file is safe (since I created it I was pretty sure it was!). That took me to a new tab in the browser where I had to specify that it was safe and answer a security question. The security question consisted of several letters/numbers twisted into different shapes that I had to identify. It took me 3 or 4 different tries to get past that.
Once I had reported the file was safe, I went back to the actual download. Oops, have to start over again. So, I click on the link to download the installation program and even though I just got done telling Microsoft it was a safe program, I got the dialog telling me it was not a commonly downloaded program. Again, I clicked 'see more' and got the dialog allowing me to delete, keep or report the program as safe. This time I clicked on keep the installation program.
After clicking on keep I got another bigger dialog box that again warned me that it was not a commonly known program and asked me to verify that I trusted the program. There were 2 big buttons for “Delete” and “Cancel”. Under those buttons in the small text was a small link that said “See More”.
I clicked on the “See More” and yet another dialog box appeared giving the option to 1) Delete, 2) Keep, and 3) Report the file as safe. This time I clicked on Keep.
Finally, the downloaded was completed and I was able to actually install the application!
It took 4 dialog boxes – AND a side trip to report the program as safe – to get the install program downloaded.
Out of curiosity, the next day I went through the process again. Even though I reported the module as safe (actually I did it twice) I had to go through the FULL process yet again. I understand that my saying the program is safe doesn’t mean it really is safe; but I thought that Microsoft could at least recognize that on this PC I said it was safe and would let me download it again - on this PC. NOPE!
I applaud Microsoft for trying to improve the security on Windows; but, that download process seems a little excessive – 4 different dialog boxes warning me that this was not a commonly downloaded program. And, what purpose does the “Report the program as safe” if it apparently did nothing. I think Microsoft could streamline the process a bit.
