Microsoft today released a new build of Windows 10. Insiders on the Fast Ring are getting Windows 10 build 14986, which has plenty of new features. One of them is a new Windows Defender app based on Universal Windows Platform, in addition to its classic/Win32 counterpart.
Microsoft had announced the app a month ago, but Windows 10 build 14986 is the first public build which includes a working application.
The app can be found in the Start menu, where both the Desktop app and the UWP app are available:
Once you launch it, it warns that it is still a work-in-progress:
After that, the main window of the app will be opened. Here is how it looks:
It contains two main areas to indicate the status of local and network protection. There, you can quickly find the last scan date and the definition base version and date.
The left area contains a toolbar with icons. All of them are working except the Settings (gear) icon, which does nothing yet.
The Virus protection page shows the scan results in detail:
The Firewall and Network protection page has a set of useful links to manage your Firewall settings and shows the current status of the Network protection.
The last icon, Family options, opens the related page with a number of settings related to family safety in Windows 10.
The application respects the Dark and Light themes which can be set in Settings - Personalization - Color.
The new Defender app is useful for security monitoring and can be used as a dashboard to review the PC's protection state. It is touch-screen friendly which will be appreciated by tablet and convertible PC users. The final version of the app will get more user interface changes and internal improvements.
Do you like the changes which the Defender app is getting in Windows 10? Did you find them useful? Tell us in the comments.
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This is good. They’re finally making an UWP app for Windows Defender that has a standard GUI which also integrates at least part of the old Action Center (called Security Center in Windows XP and Vista).