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Microsoft To Introduce a New Feature In Windows 10 Which Will Allow Users To Block Installation of Desktop Apps (mspoweruser.com)
Microsoft is planning to introduce a new feature to Windows 10 that will allow a user to prevent installation of desktop apps. The latest Windows Insider build comes with an option that allows users to enable app installations only from the Windows Store. From a report on MSPowerUser: Once enabled, users will see a warning whenever they try to install a Win32 app -- they will get a dialog saying apps from the Windows Store helps to keep their PC "safe and reliable." This feature is obviously disabled by default, but users can enable it really easily if they want.
Wasn't there are article about how the majority, I believe has high as 75% of the Windows Store apps were considered malware?
https://www.howtogeek.com/1949...
I mean, sure they probably have improved their content since the days of this, but let us not forget how they let this slip not to long ago.
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This feature is on by default on the Mac. It's one of the first things I turn off when I set up my account on a new Mac, but it is great for everyone else in my life. My folks & in-laws have Macs, so I'm their defacto support guy. I administer their computers, and they can't install any software except from the Mac App Store. My mom wanted to install a solitaire game from some dubious website, and this prevented it from being installed. I found her a legit solitaire game on the App store for free. As a CIS teacher & hobbyist programmer though, it can be a pain in the neck, since a lot of open source software, such as GIMP aren't already available.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
The exact same thing was said when Apple introduced Gatekeeper in mac OS Mountain Lion four years ago. The default when Mountain Lion* shipped was to allow apps from the App Store or signed apps from other sources, and it's still the default today. The blanket option to allow all apps and go unprotected is now hidden, but it can be re-enabled from the command line. And you can still override Gatekeeper for individual apps from at least three different interfaces (attempt to launch the app, then open the App Store prefpane; right-click the app in Finder; use spctl from the command line). As far as I'm concerned, that's all as it should be. It's still possible for a user to selectively bypass Gatekeeper, but it's harder to do so accidentally or globally.
(*: The back-port to Lion allowed all apps by default as a concession to users of old hardware that were left behind when Mountain Lion dropped support for 32-bit EFI.)
That's no guarantee that Microsoft will be as wise as Apple has been. Instead of code signing, Microsoft is encouraging developers to wrap Win32 apps in UWP containers so they can be published from the Windows Store, so probably not as wise. Closed-source OS developers aren't idiots, though. Apple and Microsoft both know that the "default walled garden on desktop" button is wired to the self-destruct system.
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Apple lets you install any signed app that didn't come from the app store, and bypassing the signed-app requirement simply requires you to hold down the "control" button the first time you launch it. The Mac app store has been kind of dying off.