Following the incident that took down hundreds of Windows PCs international in July of this yr, Microsoft introduced a collection of enhancements for its running gadget to beef up the reliability and safety of the Windows ecosystem beneath the Windows Resiliency Initiative.

According to Microsoft, the Windows Resiliency Initiative specializes in 4 key spaces: bettering reliability, lowering reliance on administrative privileges, bettering controls over what drivers are allowed to run, and combating phishing assaults.

The first growth is Quick Machine Recovery. This characteristic is meant to lend a hand maintain eventualities just like the CrowdStrike outage in July 2024. Quick Machine Recovery will permit IT directors to deploy vital fixes and Windows updates on programs that can’t boot, say, because of blue displays of demise, boot loops, or different vital mistakes. Microsoft will be sure that the ones fixes can also be deployed remotely without having for bodily get right of entry to to the objective PC.

Quick Machine Recovery will probably be to be had for trying out within the Insider Program in early 2025.

Windows 11 could also be getting new security measures to scale back dangers of “overprivileged users,” unverified apps and drivers, and insecure credentials.

Administrator coverage, which is lately in preview, will lend a hand customers with standard-permission profiles execute vital gadget adjustments and app installations when wanted. Actions that require increased privileges will recommended authorization with Windows Hello, which, in flip, will create a short lived remoted admin token. That token is destroyed as soon as the motion is completed, making sure attackers can’t hijack increased admin profiles.

Other adjustments within the Windows Resiliency Initiative that are actually to be had or to be had in preview come with passkey toughen in Windows Hello for credential coverage, Smart App Control and Windows Protected Print, Personal Data Encryption for identified folders, Windows Hotpatch, Configuration Refresh, and extra.

Microsoft additionally took an opportunity to remind customers that the outgoing Windows 10, which will probably be out of toughen via October 2025, has inferior safety than Windows 11 with its safety answers, akin to TPM 2.0, virtualization-based safety, Credential Guard, Local Security Authority, fewer kernel assault surfaces, and different adjustments. Microsoft says that imposing new security features helped considerably scale back safety incidents, with as much as thrice fewer firmware assaults and id robbery.

Catch up with the remainder of the Ignite 2024 bulletins right here.