New in MSFT graveyard: Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office deprecated this month

Microsoft is deprecating yet another useful feature this month. Besides the Windows 11 Tips app and Steps Recorder, the Redmond-based tech giant will kill the Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Office.

The deprecation has just been announced just this week. Microsoft says that the app will no longer be updated. This means that the specific programming tools used to create Application Guard for Office are also no longer being supported or updated.

Released a little over four years ago in November 2019 in limited preview for Microsoft 365 E5 and E5 Security licenses holders at that time, Application Guard for Office is a security feature that helps protect against attacks that can occur when opening untrusted files. It does this by isolating untrusted files in a separate container that is isolated from the rest of the device. 

Microsoft recommends transitioning to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint attack surface reduction rules along with Protected View and Windows Defender Application Control.

Just last month, Microsoft also killed VBScript in Windows 10 and Windows 11 after 30 years of incredible runs. They said that “the VBScript feature on demand will be repinstalled to allow for uninterrupted use while you prepare for the retirement of VBScript.”

What are your thoughts on this deprecation? Let us know in the comments!