How To Disable The SmartScreen Filter In Internet Explorer

Over the past few weeks we have got clients calling wondering about what this SmartScreen application is that popping on their screen is about; therefore, I decided to put together some info on what this actually is and how to turn it on and off.

The so called SmartScreen Filter has been added to Internet Explorer 8 by Microsoft. The filter has been designed to warn the user in case unsafe websites are accessed in the web browser. Unsafe websites can for instance be phishing websites or sites that distribute malware. The SmartScreen filter will first check the visited website against a list of “high traffic website addresses” stored on the computer system that are believed to be legitimate by Microsoft.

Any address that is not in that local list will be send to a Microsoft server where it will be compared against a database that contains unsafe and suspicious websites. Standard computer information and the SmartScreen Filter version number will also be transmitted in the process.

The SmartScreen Filter is a security addition to Internet Explorer that warns the user if known malicious or dangerous websites are visited. It is therefore usually recommended to keep the filter activated.

Some Internet Explorer users on the other hand might prefer to deactivate it. Either because they are using a security software that checks the websites for them, like Web of Trust for instance or a security software that integrates in the web browser and checks the accessed websites, or because they do not want to transmit information about the visited websites to Microsoft.

The SmartScreen Filter can be disabled in the Internet Options of Internet Explorer. Open the Internet Options by clicking on Tools > Internet Options and switch to the Security tab.

Select the Internet Zone and click on the Custom level button. This opens a new window with lots of configuration options. Scroll all the way down until the Use SmartScreen Filter setting which is Enabled by default. Selecting Disable instead and clicking on OK will disable the filter for general Internet usage.

You need to confirm the changes. This will disable the SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer 8 so that no visited websites and computer information will be submitted to Microsoft.

It is also possible to turn of the SmartScreen Filter by clicking on the Safety link in the Internet Explorer toolbar and selecting SmartScreen Filter > Turn Off SmartScreen Filter. This menu can also be used to check websites manually and report potentially dangerous websites. The last two options can be performed even if the SmartScreen Filter has been deactivated in Internet Explorer.