Editing TLS Setting in Internet Options (section)

= TLS Settings in Internet Options (Windows) – Application Impact Chart =

This page explains which applications are affected by the TLS protocol checkboxes located in:

Control Panel → Internet Options → Advanced → Security

These settings control the Windows SChannel / WinINet TLS stack.

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== Applications Affected by Internet Options TLS Settings ==

These applications rely on Windows SChannel or WinINet and are directly affected by enabling or disabling TLS versions.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Application !! Uses Windows TLS Settings? !! Notes
|-
| Internet Explorer || Yes || Fully controlled by Internet Options
|-
| Microsoft Edge (Legacy EdgeHTML) || Yes || Legacy Edge only
|-
| Control Panel Web Views || Yes || Built on IE engine
|-
| Windows Update || Yes || Uses Windows crypto stack
|-
| PowerShell (Windows PowerShell 5.1 and older) || Yes || Uses .NET Framework
|-
| .NET Framework Applications (default config) || Yes || Unless explicitly overridden
|-
| Microsoft Office (older builds) || Yes || Web services and activation
|-
| Remote Desktop Gateway || Yes || Uses SChannel
|-
| IIS (when using SChannel) || Yes || Server-side encryption
|-
| Outlook (older builds / certain auth flows) || Yes || Especially Exchange on-prem
|-
| WinHTTP-based Applications || Yes || Common in enterprise apps
|-
| SQL Server (native encryption) || Yes || Uses Windows crypto
|}

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== Applications NOT Affected by Internet Options TLS Settings ==

These applications use their own TLS implementation (BoringSSL, NSS, OpenSSL, etc.) and are NOT controlled by Internet Options.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Application !! Uses Windows TLS Settings? !! Reason
|-
| Google Chrome || No || Uses BoringSSL
|-
| Mozilla Firefox || No || Uses NSS
|-
| Microsoft Edge (Chromium) || Mostly No || Uses Chromium TLS (still relies on Windows certificate store)
|-
| Opera || No || Chromium-based
|-
| Brave || No || Chromium-based
|-
| Discord || No || Electron (Chromium)
|-
| Slack || No || Electron-based
|-
| Zoom || No || Custom TLS stack
|-
| Steam || No || Uses OpenSSL
|-
| FileZilla || No || Own TLS library
|-
| Git (default config) || No* || Uses OpenSSL unless configured for SChannel
|-
| Java Applications (default JRE) || No || Uses Java TLS stack
|-
| Docker Desktop || No || Own TLS implementation
|-
| Node.js Applications || No || Uses OpenSSL
|}

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== Mixed or Conditional Cases ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Application !! Depends? !! Explanation
|-
| .NET Core / .NET 5+ || Usually Yes || Defaults to SChannel on Windows
|-
| PowerShell 7+ || Yes || Uses .NET Core
|-
| Git for Windows || Maybe || If configured with http.sslBackend=schannel
|-
| Python (requests library) || Usually No || Uses OpenSSL
|-
| WSL (Linux applications) || No || Uses Linux TLS stack
|}

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== Best Practice Recommendation (2026) ==

For Windows 10 / Windows 11 systems:

* Enable TLS 1.2
* Enable TLS 1.3
* Disable TLS 1.0
* Disable TLS 1.1

Older TLS versions should only be enabled for legacy system compatibility.

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== Quick Rule of Thumb ==

* Built into Windows → Affected
* .NET Framework app → Usually affected
* Chromium / Electron-based → Not affected
* Cross-platform open-source app → Usually not affected