Windows 10 will soon get a setting to block desktop apps
Windows 10 will soon get a setting to block desktop apps
Looking at the latest Windows 10 test build (15042) that dropped late last week, it's evident that the upcoming Creators Update is as good as feature complete. (A few hints: It identifies itself as “rs2_release” during download, and the desktop no longer has a watermark.) So between now and its rumored April public release, we should see fewer preview builds, and if any, they will be more about bug fixes.
But this latest build did reveal one previously unknown feature (hat tip MSPoweruser), and that’s the ability to block the installation of desktop apps. Because under Settings > Apps > Apps & Features, there are now installation options such as “Allow apps from anywhere”, “Prefer apps from the Store, but allow apps from anywhere”, and “Allow apps from the Store only”.
As of now, the default is to allow apps from anywhere (that’s why we run full Windows, right?), but there’s speculation that the Store-only option will be the default for the yet-to-be-announced Cloud version of the OS.
If this sounds like macOS’ Gatekeeper feature, well, that’s because it is.