Microsoft: New W10 app will make PC security easier

Microsoft is planning to release a Windows 10 app to make it easier for you to control your computer’s security and performance.

Due to arrive in the Creators Update this spring, the Windows Defender Security Center will let you check what Microsoft calls “the five pillars of protection”. These are virus and threat protection, device performance and health, firewall and network protection, app and browser controls, and family options.

The company said that it wants “to help you become more informed and make safety simple” so that the “bad guys” never have the chance to harm you. The Security Center will let you scan results direct from Windows Defender (or let you launch any other antivirus you have installed).

Each pillar is displayed as an icon alongside ticks (if all’s well) or crosses (if something needs your attention). In the screenshot above, for example, there’s a cross next to ‘Virus & threat protection’ to indicate that threats have been found and you should restart your PC to remove them.

The Security Center, not to be confused with the Windows Defender app, is Microsoft’s latest ‘dashboard’, a new trend on websites and in operating systems to simplify settings and controls (see also the new Privacy Dashboard, Cover Feature, page 50).

You can open the app now if you’re signed up to the Windows 10 Insider Program – just press the Windows key, then type defender security center and click the result at the top. Select the ‘Trusted Windows Store app’ option.

Visit Microsoft’s Windows 10 blog for details on the app, including a video of it in action: www.snipca.com/23354.

Does your antivirus do more harm than good? See Question of the Fortnight, page 11.