Enable the "Control Folder Access" function of Windows Security Center to prevent ransomware. The specific steps are as follows: 1. Open "Windows Security Center" → "Virus and Threat Protection" → Click "Management Settings" → Enable "Control Folder Access"; 2. Protect common folders such as "Documents" and "Images" by default, or you can manually add other directories; 3. If the program is intercepted, you can add a whitelist in "Allow apps to access through controlled folders"; 4. If you encounter problems, you can view the "Notification History" or temporary pause function, but it is not recommended to close it for a long time. The whole process is simple to operate, just pay attention to the details.

It is actually not difficult to enable the "Control Folder Access" feature of Windows Security Center, just find the correct setting path and configure it slightly. This feature is mainly to prevent ransomware from encrypting your files, and it will limit which programs can modify files on your computer.

Where to find "Control Folder Access"

First, open "Windows Security Center", which can be opened by searching for "Windows Security" through the Start menu. After entering, click "Virus and Threat Protection" on the left. Click Manage Settings under Virus and Threat Protection Settings.

Pull down in the new page and you will see an option called "Controlled Folder Access", which may be off by default. Click the switch button next to "Enable Controlled Folder Access", and the system may pop up a prompt to confirm the operation.

Which folders will be protected

By default, this feature only protects a few common user folders, such as "documents", "pictures", "downloads", etc. If you have other custom important directories that also need protection, you can click "Add Protected Folders" in the settings page of "Controlled Folders Access" and browse and select the directory you want to add to the protected one.

It should be noted that not all programs can read and write freely in these protected folders. Once a program attempts to illegally modify the contents in these folders, and it is not trusted by the system or whitelisted, it will be blocked.

How to allow a specific program to run

Sometimes, some legal software you installed may not work properly because it is accidentally blocked. At this point you can manually whitelist them.

Under the "Control Folder Access" page, find "Allow apps to access through controlled folders", click in and select "Add allowable apps". You can select from the list of Microsoft signed apps, or click "Add unknown app" to customize adding. It is recommended to add procedures of unknown origin with caution, otherwise it may weaken the protection effect.

• If you are not sure whether to add a program, you can check its source first
• It is best to confirm that this program does need to access protected folders before adding
• Sometimes after updating the software version, you may need to add it again

What to do if you encounter a problem

If you find that a common software suddenly cannot save files or reports an error, it is likely to be blocked by "controlled folder access". At this time, you can go to the "Notice History" to see if there are any related interception records. If so, you can decide whether to allow the program according to the prompts.

Also, if you don't want to use this feature for the time being, and don't have to turn it off completely, you can optionally pause for a while. However, it is not recommended to close for a long time, after all, it is still very helpful in preventing malware.

Basically that's it. The whole process is not complicated, but it is easy to ignore individual details, such as the operation logic when adding folders or posting programs. As long as you follow the steps step by step, there should be no problem.

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