What is a PUA? Microsoft recently announced that it will be adding more media for the protection against the installation of so-called potentially unwanted applications unwanted applications (PUAs) in Windows Defender, but only enterprises.
The protection feature for potentially unwanted applications is only available to business customers. If you are already one of the existing Microsoft Enterprise customers, you must opt-in to enable and use PUA protection.
While Microsoft has announced the new feature only for Enterprise editions of Windows 10, it does not protect the feature.
This means that each user (Home or Pro version) can activate and use the feature.
PUA protection updates are built into the cloud and come with Windows Defender updates.
Let's see how you can enable protection for PUA protection in Windows Defender
Microsoft makes no mention of which versions of Windows support PUA protection in Windows Defender. We tested the feature on two computers with Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro, and worked without problems.
You should add one key registry and the Windows Registry preference:
Let's see how:
In Windows 10 search, type regedit and do click on the first icon that appears. The Windows Registry Editor will open.
Confirm the UAC if it appears
Follow the route:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender
Right-click on Windows Defender and select New> Key.
Name the MpEngine key.
Right-click on MpEngine and select New> DWORD (32-bit).
Name the MpEnablePus DWORD value.
Double-click MpEnablePus and enter the 1 value.
Restart your computer.
Once you have restarted your computer, Windows Defender will start blocking possible unwanted programs (installing and downloading through Internet Explorer or Edge).
If you want to disable the feature now, set the value in the DWORD registry to 0, or completely delete MpEnablePus.
