ericlaw

Understanding Defender AV Scans

Microsoft Defender Antivirus Defender is intended to operate silently in the background, without requiring any active attention from the user. Because Defender is included for free as a component of Windows, it doesn’t need to nag or otherwise bother the user for attention in an attempt to “prove its value”, unlike some antivirus products thatContinue reading “Understanding Defender AV Scans”

Windows: Choose Where To Get Apps

Modern versions of Windows offer a setting named “Choose where to get apps” which can reduce attack surface by limiting the locations from which applications can be installed. Internally, we’ve called this feature “Smart Install”. By default, this option is set to “Anywhere“, which means that Windows will allow an executable downloaded from the InternetContinue reading “Windows: Choose Where To Get Apps”

Winter 2026 Runs

I did a reasonably good job running on my treadmill throughout the fall of 2025, in preparation for my second summit of Mount Kilimanjaro over New Years (blog post to come). Run for the Water 10 Miler On November 9th, 2025, I ran the ten mile Run for the Water. The night before, I ateContinue reading “Winter 2026 Runs”

Security Software False Positives

Software developers and end-users are often interested in understanding how to resolve incorrect detections from their antivirus/security software, including Microsoft Defender. Such False Positives (FPs) can disrupt your use of your device by incorrectly blocking innocuous files or processes. However, you should take extreme care before concluding that a given detection is a false positiveContinue reading “Security Software False Positives”

Security Surfaces

An important concept in Usable Security is whether a given UI represents a “security surface.” Formally, a security surface is a User Interface component in which the user is presented with information they rely upon to make a security decision. For example, in the browser, the URL in the address bar is a security surface.Continue reading “Security Surfaces”