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Apps installed from the Microsoft Store are no longer guaranteed safe, as Win32 apps can be added to the store now and installed via winget. There’s static analysis and they run the installer, but if it does something stupid after the install they can’t automatically detect it.

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And it was unsafe for a few years prior to this event too, with the introduction of Desktop Bridge apps (packaged Win32 hybrid apps running with full trust).

Don’t the win32 apps restrict the calls in that subsystem that one can access?

I recall looking into this a while back with the intention of leveraging it for an ancient win32/mfc app. I don’t remember the specifics, but I seem to recall that MS restricted or prevented access to a rather substantial subset of win32.

Not anymore. Microsoft gave up on trying to sandbox Windows Store installs for Win32 apps.

That's good to know. It was still locked down when I looked into it last time.

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