Windows Defender Blocking QuickText (ASR Rule)

If you see this message from Windows Security:

What’s going on? Windows Defender has a security rule (“Attack surface reduction”) that blocks Excel from running background commands. This stops QuickText from sending SMS.

How to fix it: You have two options:

Option 1: Enable “Bypass ASR” in QuickText (quick fix)

• Open QuickText

• Go to Settings > Advanced Settings

• Set “Bypass ASR” to Enabled

• Save the settings

Note: This option is the quickest and doesn’t require changing your Windows security settings. However, it may add a small delay (a few seconds) each time you send an SMS.

Option 2: Disable the Defender Rule (permanent fix for admins) If you have admin rights, you can turn off just this security rule:

• Open PowerShell as administrator

• Run this command:

  Set-MpPreference -AttackSurfaceReductionRules_Ids D4F940AB-401B-4EFC-AADC-AD5F3C50688A -AttackSurfaceReductionRules_Actions Disabled

This will remove the block and allow QuickText to send SMS without any added delay.