#BLOCKBLOCK OS X WINDOWS 10 HOW TO#
#BLOCKBLOCK OS X WINDOWS 10 WINDOWS 10#

Out of that came Gatekeeper, which restricts app installation to apps from the Mac App Store and to apps whose developer ID is signed by Apple, meaning Apple knows who the developer is. Then it got a wake-up call with the Flashback malware attack in 2012. When Macs began to get popular in the early 2010s, Apple saw the potential for a similar malware problem in OS X - malware attacks, especially from Internet links and poisoned websites. Something had to give, and it finally did. It took a change in attitude at Microsoft to adopt Apple's approach, a change made easier by the introduction of the Windows Store in Windows 8 and Windows Phone and - let's be honest - by the steady decrease in PC sales in the last five years and the never-ending parade of Windows malware. Microsoft, in it support for a broad range of developers and development tools, did not. Getting all of those apps certified by Microsoft would have been near-impossible until Microsoft had its own app store and a more centralized approach to identifying developers.īy contrast, Apple has the advantage of a much smaller developer base, plus the dominance of its own Xcode development tool, which requires a developer ID be issued to use.

Restricting the apps that can be installed would keep out malware, as well as thousand of legitimate apps. It's also let malware ravage Windows users. That's why Windows PCs power everything from ATMs to spacecraft, not simply run productivity and design software on users' desktops. The issue was less technical and more practical. Windows's blessing and curse is that it can run an almost unlimited set of apps, from practically any source. The origins of Gatekeeper (and Device Guard)Īdopting this approach was no easy feat for Microsoft. Here's what you need to know to take advantage of it in your organization.

#BLOCKBLOCK OS X WINDOWS 10 HOW TO#

Most admins will quickly read up on how to use Device Guard for Windows, but few know how to use the Mac's Gatekeeper equivalent. It doesn't matter who had the technology first - what matters is that there's now a consensus approach to managing computers to keep out malware. Now that Microsoft has Device Guard, the two leading desktop operating systems have a similar approach to managing dubious apps - and both let administrators control those settings. My colleague Fahmida Rashid recently explained the new Device Guard feature in Windows 10, a major step for the ubiquitous Microsoft desktop operating system to combat malware.Īpple introduced a similar technology called Gatekeeper in 2012's OS X Mountain Lion (and made its retroactive to the previous OS X Lion).

#BLOCKBLOCK OS X WINDOWS 10 WINDOWS 10#

Windows 10 is getting Mac religion, at least when it comes to how it manages apps.

Blockblock os x windows 10