microsoft[.]com/en-us/windows/learning-center/top-pc-antivirus-app-smart-app-control-windows
In a new blog post Microsoft is promoting Smart App Control, which is being picked up by several tech/news sites, so it's something you might come across. And there's a good chance you've never heard of it before. Basically what it does is check the reputation of any app before it's run using a database in the cloud, along with checking if the app is signed. If the app doesn't get a passing grade it won't be allowed to run, and there's nothing you can do about it other than turning Smart App Control off in Windows security settings, and once you turn it off it cannot be turned back on. It's designed to supplement Defender, and according to Microsoft may boost performance by reducing the amount of resources used by Defender's real time scanning. Smart App Control also comes with a big catch -- it can only be turned on after a fresh Windows install or a Windows reset, which Microsoft claims is necessary to make sure malware is not already installed. In theory you can try to edit the registry to turn it on/off, But, I didn't find any reports saying someone was successful doing so, and the registry key is protected, so you have to edit it by mounting the registry hive in Regedit while running another copy of Windows or WinPE.
howtogeek[.]com/smart-app-control-windows-11-explained/
smallvoid[.]com/article/winnt-offline-registry-edit.html
Smart App Control also has 2 modes, evaluation and active... when it's 1st turned on it will monitor how you're using the PC/laptop in evaluation mode, and if it decides it isn't a good fit, it'll turn itself off. And it's Not bulletproof.
elastic[.]co/security-labs/dismantling-smart-app-control
A final note, this is Not the App Control you may have heard/read about for enterprise IT.
learn.microsoft[.]com/en-us/windows/security/application-security/application-control/app-control-for-business/appcontrol-and-applocker-overview
