Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17713 Brings Application Guard Improvements

Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17713 to Windows Insiders in the Fast Ring. The new version brings some notable security-related enhancements, as well as other improvements.

Windows Defender Application Guard

Windows Defender Application Guard, the sandboxing technology that can put applications (only the Edge browser for now) inside a virtual machine running another minimal instance of Windows, now comes with a new interface inside the Windows Security dashboard. 

Users will be able to fully configure the Application Guard without messing with Registry key settings, and those whose computers are managed by enterprise policies will also be able to check what configurations their IT administration has made for their machines.

All of the new Application Guard settings will appear in the Windows Security dashboard, as long as the devices meet certain hardware requirements. Currently, Application Guard is also only supported on Windows 10 Enterprise build 1709 or newer, or Windows 10 Professional build 1803 or newer.

Microsoft Edge Improvements

Besides the isolated browsing offered by Application Guard, Edge also received several other improvements in build 17713. One of them is per-site media controls, which allows users to control autoplay permission on a per-site basis under the “Website permission” section of the Website Identification pane.

However, from the looks of it, autoplaying will remain on by default for websites, so you'll have to turn-off autoplay manually for each website that annoys you with autoplaying ads or videos.

You can now also look up definitions for words in Reading View, Books, and PDFs, and you can also choose to have the words read aloud in order to hear the correct pronunciation. Microsoft said that it also improved the PDF reader performance, which should open pages more quickly as you scroll through them, as well as as the PDF toolbar, which is now easier to use.

New Sign-in Methods & Biometric Authentication

In Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 17713, Microsoft also enabled biometric authentication for remote desktop sessions via Windows Hello for Business. This feature doesn’t seem to support “convenience PINs,” presumably because the company knows how easily PINs can be broken by modern password cracking tools.

Microsoft also introduced “Web Sign-in,” a new form fo authentication for Azure customers, as well as Fast Sign-in, which will enable multiple users to sign-in to a shared PC more quickly.

Microsoft said that it’s now getting closer to releasing “Redstone 5” (RS5) build of Windows 10. RS5 has already been forked into its own build and the company will now focus on the stabilization of the code.