Enable or Disable Microsoft Defender PUA Protection in Windows 10  

Just as a test, are you able to download it below from here in a ZIP file?

Brink said:

Just as a test, are you able to download it below from here in a ZIP file?

Got the same detection from WD with that also...

Kol12 said:

Got the same detection from WD with that also...

You have: Graphics Card: EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3

When you update the 1080 through GeForce, you can choose a clean install and it will remove the old stuff completely.

Question / Issue

What is the best way to completely uninstall the NVIDIA drivers?

Answer / Solution

The best way to uninstall NVIDIA drivers is to use the NVIDIA Clean Install Method through the latest drivers. To completely uninstall drivers, NVIDIA and EVGA recommend using the NVIDIA driver to uninstall previous drivers. To do this you can download the latest NVIDIA driver from NVIDIA or EVGA. Once you select the proper driver, run the installer. Select Custom Install, then Perform Clean Install. This process will completely erase all previous NVIDIA drivers and install the latest version. FAQ ID # 59195 - What is the best way to completely uninstall the NVIDIA drivers?

2) The Custom install options screen will allow you to select which components of the NVIDIA Graphics Driver you wish to install. To get the most features out of your graphics card, we suggest selecting all of the graphic components. Older graphics cards may not show all of the components listed below. If the options you are presented with do not match the screenshot below, it is ok. The only mandatory component you must install is the Graphics Driver. If you have experienced install problems in the past, we offer "Perform clean install" which will remove all previous NVIDIA drivers and NVIDIA registry entries from your computer. This may resolve installer issues caused by conflicting older drivers. One you have selected which graphic components you wish to install, click "NEXT" to continue.


3) The installer will copy all selected graphic components to your computer. After the installer has completed, you will see a window similar to the screenshot below. Click "RESTART NOW" to restart your computer. Once you are back in Windows, your installation has completed.


Installing NVIDIA Display Drivers Under Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 | NVIDIA

Kol12 said:

This worked for me. I had trouble turning real time protection on afterwards but was able to after a reboot. Now I have the file it appears that I can run it without WD detecting it again. I'm not sure if that is good or bad but I suppose the only way it would detect it again would be through a scan? I'm surprised WD is not blocking the program when I run it so maybe this PUA protection only works during the download process?

From Shawn's note in the tutorial:

1. The Potentially Unwanted Application protection feature is available only for enterprise customers. If you are already one of Microsoft's existing enterprise customers, you need to opt-in to enable and use PUA protection.

What we are doing is a hack, and Enterprise versions have may other security measures to prevent it from installing.

I bet DDU is on the list of PUA's, because a company does not want their users mucking around in the drivers(they probably couldn't without the Admin password anyhow).

Kol12 said:

I believe most peoples preference is still to clean install with DDU but I may be wrong...

I can almost guarantee you are wrong. Vast majority of Windows users do not even know how to do a clean install.

Hi Shawn

Allow me to add a little more to your excellent (and functional) tutorial.

According to the Microsoft document Detect and block Potentially Unwanted Applications there could be a third possible command available in Option 2 of the tutorial, which might be worth adding:

Audit Mode (detect PUAs but not block them)
Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection 2 (or AuditMode)

Cheers and keep up the great work you do!