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Disable or Turn Off Windows 8’s SmartScreen Feature

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SmartScreen filter feature in IE9 protects users by warning against visits to malicious sites and downloading malicious software to their computers, since all users don’t use IE9 to surf Microsoft ported SmartScreen with application reputation used in IE9 to Windows 8 developer preview which warns when users tries to run an application that has not well established reputation, SmartScreen gives a warning & recommends not to run it, delete the  program or to run the program anyway, expand more details and click “Run this program and don’t prompt me again”.

Windows 8 smartscreen

Disabling or turning off SmartScreen feature in Windows 8

If you’re security savvy users and download files from reputed sites, then you can turn off or disable Windows SmartScreen, here is how to do that.

1. Open Control Panel>System and Security>Action Center

2. Expand Security section, scroll down and click ‘Change settings’ for Windows SmartScreen

3. Select ‘Turn off Windows SmartScreen’ and click ‘ OK’ to save the changes.

turn off Windows SmartScreen

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Comments

  2. Adam says

    I have the same problem as BP, I try to disable it but it doesn’t do anything and if I open the window again it shows it as still being enabled.

  3. Arne says

    Hi If you see the smart screen when opening a file or program! then click the more info and say run anyways :)

    • Adam says

      the problem was that it would come up and hang for ~15 seconds and then the program would just run anyways and it would happen for every program I installed every time they ran, so I’d get like 10 smartscreen windows at startup. I fixed it with a format and fresh install of windows 8 though :)

  5. Derek says

    The SmartScreen thing is very annoying! Every time I start my computer, I have to click Run anyway for a bunch of programs! (It’s on a laptop, so not always it is connected to the internet.)