What this feature does
, like the SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer
, helps keep your PC safe by checking downloaded files and web content within apps to help protect you from malicious software and potentially unsafe web content. Before an unknown or potentially unsafe downloaded file is opened, Windows will display a warning. If SmartScreen detects potentially unsafe web content in an app, Windows will display a warning in place of the content.
Information collected, processed, or transmitted
If you choose to use Windows SmartScreen to check downloaded files, Windows sends information to the SmartScreen online service This information might include a file name, file identifier (“hash”), and digital certificate information along with standard PC information and the Windows SmartScreen filter version number. To help protect your privacy, the information sent to Microsoft is encrypted via SSL.
If you choose to use Windows SmartScreen to block potentially unsafe content in apps, Windows sends information to the SmartScreen online service including the addresses and types of content that some Windows Store apps access when you use them. In response, the online service tells your PC whether the content has been reported to Microsoft as unsafe or suspicious. Reports sent to Microsoft include information such as the name or identifier of the app and the full addresses of web content accessed by the app.
To help protect your privacy, the information sent to Microsoft is encrypted. Information that might be associated with a webpage accessed inside an app, such as search terms, might be included in the address sent to Microsoft. For example, if you look up a word in a dictionary app, the word you look up might be sent to Microsoft as part of the full address accessed by the app. Microsoft filters these addresses to try to remove personal information where possible.
Windows generates a number called a globally unique identifier (GUID) that is sent to Microsoft with each report. The GUID lets us determine which data is sent from a particular computer over time. The GUID doesn’t contain any personal information.
Use of information
Microsoft uses the information described above to provide warnings to you about potentially unsafe downloaded files and content within apps. For example, if SmartScreen detects a potential threat inside an app that supports SmartScreen, Windows will display a warning in place of the content. We also use the information to improve SmartScreen and other products and services. Microsoft doesn’t use the information to target advertising to you.
For more information, see: Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 privacy statement - Microsoft Windows
This tutorial will show you how to turn Windows SmartScreen
on or off in Windows 8
, Windows RT
, Windows 8.1
, and Windows RT 8.1
You must be signed in as an administrator
to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.