Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

This new Windows 11 feature will help you protect your passwords

The new Windows 11 22H2 update was just released, bringing an interesting security feature. Dubbed “Enhanced Phishing Protection,” this feature was made to help users protect their Windows passwords a little bit better.

Enhanced Phishing Protection will warn users whenever they enter their Windows password in places where it’s not needed. Here’s how it works.

Windows 11 Enhanced Phishing Protection feature.
Bleeping Computer

Many people use the same password across several websites, programs, and emails — even though it’s unsafe. Surprisingly, many of us pay quite little attention to the security of our Windows password, but it’s a good idea to stay vigilant about it. Microsoft has decided to make that easier to do by implementing Enhanced Phishing Protection in Windows 11. Microsoft talked about the feature briefly in a blog post.

Windows login credentials are especially valuable to potential attackers if they belong to someone within an organization. Infiltrating just one computer could grant a hacker access to the whole network, and from there, it only gets worse. Combine that with the fact that many of us don’t use secure passwords on our work computers, and there may be a problem.

While Microsoft is not addressing the security of the password itself, its new anti-phishing feature makes it easier to ensure that the password doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. It comes with two settings, one for password reuse and one for password storage.

“SmartScreen identifies and protects against corporate password entry on reported phishing sites or apps connecting to phishing sites, password reuse on any app or site, and passwords typed into Notepad, Wordpad, or Microsoft 365 apps,” Microsoft’s security product manager Sinclaire Hamilton told Bleeping Computer.

When both options are enabled in Windows 11, the feature will warn you if you’re trying to store your password in an app such as Notepad. It will also alert you if you input your Windows password on a website, letting you know that you shouldn’t reuse it outside of accessing Windows 11.

How to enable Enhanced Phishing Protection

Windows 11 Enhanced Phishing Protection feature.
Bleeping Computer

In order to try this feature out for yourself, make sure you have the latest Windows 11 update (22H2). Once you do, follow this path to locate the settings: Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Windows Security > App & browser control > Reputation-based protection settings.

In that section, you’ll be able to find Warn me about password reuse and Warn me about unsafe password storage. Toggle both of these on and enjoy the extra layer of protection.

This is definitely a strong feature and a good addition from Microsoft. Let’s hope that it will continue expanding it to include more apps in order to ramp up the security even further.

Editors' Recommendations

Monica J. White
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
I hope Microsoft adds this rumored AI feature to Windows 11
A Windows 11 device sits on a table.

From smart speakers to ChatGPT and Bing Chat, AI has slowly crept into our lives, but not all instances of AI are as prominent as those three examples. Sometimes, the effect is subtle, but still pretty nice. It appears that Microsoft is working on one such instance of AI-enhanced tech that could make using Windows 11 just a little more pleasant. We're talking about AI-powered live wallpapers, and they might be coming soon.

First spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft is readying an AI-powered desktop that could make the whole user experience feel a lot more interactive. The idea is to adjust depth perception and make some backgrounds appear more "alive" when moving your cursor or the entire device. The wallpaper might move or shift, depending on what you're doing on the desktop.

Read more
Windows 11 will finally respect your default browser — in Europe
Microsoft Edge appears on a computer screen with plants and a window in the background.

Microsoft makes it easy to change the default browser in Windows 11. That's important if you require special features specific to one of the many web browsers that are available on a PC. Unfortunately, it's not as simple to be rid of Edge entirely.

Microsoft Edge will still load to open some other file types. When opening a link from Windows Settings or other system components, the webpage will load in Edge. That's now about to change, however, according to a recent Windows blog post.

Read more
This upcoming Windows 11 feature lets you switch to a cloud PC in seconds
Windows 365 Switch being used with Task view.

Microsoft is currently testing a feature that allows users to switch between the local Windows 11 installation and a cloud-based Windows 365 Cloud PC installation on a device using just basic computer commands.

The feature, called Windows 365 Switch, is available for Windows Insiders in the Beta and Dev Channels. The Windows 11 Build 23521 to Insiders in the Dev Channel recently became available for Dev Channels.

Read more