Installation

Install it from the Microsoft Store: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9png1jddtgp8

Documentation

What's New

• Added optional per user encryption for the Policies Library cache. When enabled (off by default), cached policy files are encrypted using Windows DPAPI and stored for the current user only. The app automatically enforces the chosen encryption setting at startup and whenever the toggle on the Sidebar changes, keeping the on disk cache in sync with the preference. When you encrypt your policy files with this feature, they are accessible only while you are signed into the same Windows user account. If you switch to a different user account or move the cache files to another machine, they will not be readable. This enhances security by ensuring that sensitive policy data is protected and accessible only to the intended user.

  • Using the Backup All button under the Actions menu creates an unencrypted backup of all policies in the library and saves them in the directory that you selected, regardless of the encryption setting. This is to ensure that users can always access their policies when restoring from a backup, even if they switch to a different user account or machine.

  • Encryption Scope: Select an encryption scope: User, which allows only the current Windows account to decrypt the encrypted policy files, or Machine, which restricts decryption to this device so the files cannot be decrypted if moved to another device.

  • If using Administrator Protection mode in the OS, it's recommended to switch to Machine scope mode. Policies encrypted with Machine scope can be decrypted by any user on the same device, while policies encrypted with User scope can only be decrypted by the user who encrypted them.

• The Scan Levels in each page now visually show the fall back levels and their order. The way the scan levels work has been a frequently asked question, this change helps clarify their workflows and shows how AppControl Manager is shaped by community/user feedbacks.

• Improved overall performance during policy creations. This is a constant effort that I always try to work on with each release. Improving performance means using less RAM and CPU to perform the same tasks and getting the same results.

• Added a new tile to the Home page where you can view the total count of the USB devices that have been ever connected to your device. By clicking/tapping on this new tile, you will be presented with a list that shows details of each USB device. Useful for forensic purposes.

• Added support for .BIN App Control policies files to the app. Now you can open .BIN files in the Policy Editor to fully decode them, or drag them onto the Policies Library on the Sidebar to import them.

PRs

• #1032

How to verify the MSIXBundle's authenticity:

gh attestation verify "Path To MSIXBundle" --repo HotCakeX/Harden-Windows-Security --format json

You can install the GitHub CLI from Winget:

winget install --id GitHub.cli