Ransomware Protection is quite a useful feature that was added in Windows 11 to help owners protect their devices from ransomware. We live in an age where security is paramount and enabling ransomware protection on Windows is a critical priority..
When we constantly browse the internet, it is important to stay safe at all times; When visiting a website or downloading a file, we are exposing ourselves to possible threats. In this sense, it is always advisable to check if the computer has a virus, but one of the most serious threats is undoubtedly ransomware. Luckily, the folks at Microsoft thought of this one and give us the ability to access a feature built into the OS to keep us protected.
Enable ransomware protection in Windows
Before we begin, we will need to make sure that we are using an administrator account. Guest accounts do not have access to this feature..
Press the Windows key and look for the "Settings" option to access the operating system configuration menu.
Once we are in Settings, we will have to choose "Privacy and security" in the left sidebar..
Next, we go to the Windows Security menu.
Now we will have to click on Open Windows security to access the configuration.
A new window opens, we are going to have to click on Protection against viruses and threats. Then we scroll down until we find the Protection against ransomware option.
We are going to have to click on Manage ransomware protection to get a list of related options.
We will look for the Folder Controller Access option and move the switch to activate the function.
In this simple way, Windows ransomware protection is enabled. We can also add the program folders that could give incorrect warning results, it would be a way of creating a kind of white list.
How to use Ransomware Protection
After we have managed to enable Ransomware Protection, we will have to whitelist several of our favorite programs in order to have controlled access to them. In this way we will be able to avoid false authentication and allow the installation of new programs.
Therefore, we are going to click on Allow an application by clicking on controlled access to the folder.
Here we will have to click on the Add an allowed application button.
A small menu is displayed where we will have two options: Browse all applications will open a pop-up window that will allow us to choose one or more executable files with the .exe extension; On the other hand, in Recently Blocked Applications, we can eliminate harmful or unwanted applications, even restore the ones we want to keep.
To avoid mistakenly flagging legitimate software or apps as ransomware, we recommend adding them to the Protected Folders section.
