Microsoft is deprecating Defender Utility Guard for Workplace and the Home windows Safety Isolation APIs, and it recommends Defender for Endpoint assault floor discount guidelines, Protected View, and Home windows Defender Utility Management in its place.
Utility Guard for Workplace is a safety characteristic that works with Phrase, Excel, and PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 Apps, particularly catering to Home windows 10 and Home windows 11 Enterprise editions.
Its main goal is to thwart potential threats by limiting information downloaded from untrusted origins, guaranteeing they’re opened inside a safe sandbox, and stopping entry to trusted assets on the consumer’s gadget.
These safe containers defend the gadget utilizing hardware-based virtualization from potential malware infections after opening downloaded paperwork in Workplace functions.
“Microsoft Defender Utility Guard for Workplace is being deprecated and is not being up to date. This deprecation additionally contains the Home windows.Safety.Isolation APIs which can be used for Microsoft Defender Utility Guard for Workplace,” Microsoft mentioned.
“We advocate transitioning to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint assault floor discount guidelines together with Protected View and Home windows Defender Utility Management.”
The announcement comes two years after Redmond rolled out Utility Guard for Workplace to all Microsoft 365 clients with supported licenses.
It was formally launched as a part of a restricted preview in November 2019, and it was solely accessible to organizations with Microsoft 365 E5 or Microsoft 365 E5 Safety licenses.
In October, the corporate mentioned it is killing VBScript in future Home windows releases 30 years after its introduction, making it accessible as an on-demand characteristic earlier than being fully eliminated.
Earlier this yr, Microsoft introduced that it could section out WordPad after 28 years and reminded that Home windows will disable insecure Transport Layer Safety (TLS) 1.0 and 1.1 protocols, however delayed Shopper Entry Guidelines (CARs) deprecation in Change On-line by one yr till September 2024.
5 years in the past, Microsoft additionally mentioned that the traditional Home windows Paint app could be deprecated and eliminated with the discharge of the Home windows 10 Fall Creator’s Replace in July 2017.
Nevertheless, Redmond determined towards phasing it out fully and, as a substitute, it made it accessible by means of the Microsoft Retailer following an outpour of affection for the app.