Simplifying the management and configuration of your favorite browser

This week is all about simplifying the management and configuration of your favorite browsers, by using Microsoft Intune. That’s definitely not the sexiest subject, but it’s important to be familiar with the easy options that are available nowadays. With the latest additions to Microsoft Intune, the management and configuration of the different browsers became more of a native functionality. Native functionality was already available for Microsoft Edge, and recently became available for Google Chrome. And now, with the recent addition of importing third-party administrative templates, it became available for every browser that could be easily managed within an on-premises environment, by using Group Policies. Besides that, there are even alternatives when really needed. This post will provide an overview of the different options for managing …

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Working with enhanced phishing protection in Microsoft Defender SmartScreen

This week is all about a new security feature that is part of Microsoft Defender SmartScreen and that was introduced with Windows 11, version 22H2. That feature is enhanced phishing protection. Enhanced phishing protection helps with protecting work accounts against phishing and unsafe usage on sites and apps. It works alongside existing Windows security features and alerts about typed work passwords in any Chromium browser, warns about reused work passwords on sites and apps, and warns when storing plaintext work passwords in Notepad, Word, or any Microsoft 365 Office app. That makes enhanced phishing protection an important addition to the Microsoft Defender SmartScreen security functionalities. This post will go through the available settings, the easy configuration, and the user experience with the enabled notifications. Note: …

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Further simplifying management of the Google Chrome browser on Windows devices

This week is all about further simplifying management of the Google Chrome browser on Windows devices. The configuration of the Google Chrome browser was already possible by ingesting ADMX-files, by using PowerShell, or by using Chrome Browser Cloud Manager, but the IT administrator was always in for a sub-optimal experience. It was either a lot of work (when looking at ADMX-files), or it provided limited reporting capabilities (when using PowerShell), or it was a completely separate solution (Chrome Browser Cloud Manager). Non of those were optimal. The great thing is that with the latest service release of Microsoft Intune (2203), the Settings Catalog (and the Administrative Templates) now also include settings for the Google Chrome browser. That enables the IT administrator to simply use the …

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