The modern Windows versions come with an inbuilt Windows Defender to protect your computer from malicious attacks. Although you always have an option to use a third-party app to detect and remove the virus from your computer, Windows Defender is a choice you must consider before looking for anti-virus software. Here’s how you can easily use Windows Defender on your Window 10 PC.
What is Windows Defender?
While Windows XP, Vista and 7 had Microsoft Security Essentials fight virus threats on your systems, on the latest Windows versions, this program was renamed Windows Defender. The best part is that the program is, unlike other antivirus apps, non-invasive as it runs in the background and does its tasks subtly without getting on your back all the time. It respects the privacy and security of other apps and browsers more than other third-party antivirus programs.
Use Windows Defender: Perform a Manual Scan
Although you don’t have to worry about the manual scan as Windows Defender protects your computer in real-time by running automatic scans time to time, there’s no harm in running a manual scan. Here’s how you can do it:
- Click the Start button and enter “defender” in the search field. Select Windows Defender Security Center on the resulting menu
- Head to the Shield icon (Windows Defender tab)
- Click Quick Scan button. It will scan your system’s memory and basic locations
Alternatively, you can use Windows Defender to run other scans as well by Using Advanced Scans option.
Full Scan: It will check each and every file as well as all running applications to remove Windows virus. It usually takes a couple of hours. So, perform this scan only when you’re not using your computer for other tasks.
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Custom Scan: If you want to scan a particular folder, go for Custom Scan here. You can also do this by right-clicking a file or folder and selecting the “Scan with Windows Defender” option.
Windows Defender Offline Scan: When you choose this scan, Defender will restart your system and run the scan before Windows loads. This is useful for tackling a stubborn virus.
Configure Windows Defender Settings
Windows Defender enables real-time protection by default. But if you want to disable this for some reason, you can do it for a short time before it automatically gets enabled again. You’ll find this setting in the Windows Defender tab. Simply, click the “Virus and threat protection settings” option and click the toggle button below your desired option. You can also toggle on/off Cloud-based protection and Automatic sample submission here.
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