MICROSOFT’S latest version of Windows is about to be a massive pain for users who value their security.
The tech giant has announced that some will have to annoyingly wipe their entire PC in order to take advantage – or risk being a target for hackers if they choose not to.
It’s all because of “significant security updates” in line for the firm’s latest operating system Windows 11.
The problem won’t affect everyone though.
If you upgraded early, sadly, you’ll take the brunt.
This means PCs originally running Windows 10 that have since upgraded to Windows 11 will have to be wiped.
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If you bought a brand new device with Windows 11 on it already, you’re fine.
“Devices running previous versions of Windows 11 will have to be reset and have a clean installation of Windows 11 to take advantage of this feature,” Microsoft’s security chief David Weston revealed in a shock blog post.
“In a future release of Windows 11 you’re going to see significant security updates that add even more protection from the chip to the cloud by combining modern hardware and software.”
The feature in question is called Smart App Control, which Weston called a “major enhancement to the Windows 11 security model”.
As it’s baked into Windows 11, the tool is supposed to intelligently check apps you download for anything untoward.
They’re checked against by advanced threat intelligence to workout whether it’s harmful or not.
The move is one of several big changes in store for Windows.
On Tuesday, Microsoft revealed that a new tabbed File Explorer is coming soon, as well as a bizarre AI tool that changes where your eyes are looking during video calls.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk