If no threats are found and Microsoft Defender status remains green, user can safely close the window after the scan is complete.

Full scan might take several hours to complete. Then click the Scan options link.Ĭhoose the Full scan option and click Scan now. In Windows Defender Security Center, open the Virus & threat protection tab from the left.

There is no need to run a Quick Scan because Windows Defender performs this task daily, and it notifies the userif the scan has not been run for a prolonged time.

Users should run a full virus scan when the status of Windows Defender Security Center icon keeps its red error circle (Actions needed) or the yellow warning triangle (Actions recommended) in Taskbar and Action Center after a quick scan.

Users should run a full scan once every month to ensure that there are no viruses and malware hiding in the computer.

Once the scan is done, the results will appear as they do in normal scans.

Right-click a file or folder (or group of files), and choose the Scan with Windows Defender command. To scan a specific file, group of files, folder or drive with Windows Defender, you can use the Right-Click Context Menu option.

Perform a scan in contextual mode (a right-click scan).

Open Start/Search, type 'defender' and select Windows Security (or 'Windows Defender Security Center' if you are not using the last Windows 10 build 2004).

Run a full scan, custom scan, or a Windows Defender Offline scan Review threats that were quarantined, removed, or allowedĮnable various features, including Real-time protection, Cloud-delivered protection, Advanced notifications, and Automatic sample submission. Update the protection ('definition updates') In that case, you’ll see the message “ You’re using other antivirus providers.”

If you’ve installed a 3rd party anti-virus, Windows Defender gets disabled automatically.

Where can I get more help with malware and virus infections ? What are common symptoms of an infection ? How to keep Virus Definitions up to date ? How to perform an Offline scan with Windows Defender ? How to perform a manual scan with Windows Defender ? How to open the Windows Security Center ?

Defender offline scan