Windows Defender Scan | Get the Full Scanning Guide

How to Scan With Windows Defender?

Follow these guidelines to scan your computer by using Windows Defender.

Close the programs that are currently running on your computer. Close all the files and folder which are open. Now, proceed to the Windows Defender scanning step given below.

Navigate to the Start menu and type the words ‘Virus and threat protection’ without quotes. Select the Virus & threat protection prompt from the search results.

Choose the option entitled Scan options. Scroll down to the ‘Windows Defender Offline scan’ option and select it. Click Scan now.

The ‘Save your work’ pop-up window will be displayed. Choose Scan. Now, the computer will be scanned by Windows Defender while the operating system restarts.

After the offline Windows Defender scanning completes, the computer initializes.

You can check the scan results by going to the Virus & Threat Protection windowScan optionsThreat history.

How to Scan a File With Windows Defender?

Know how to scan with Windows Defender, follow the Windows Defender scan guidelines mentioned below.

To begin scanning a file, navigate to its folder and right-click the file.
Choose the ‘Scan with Windows Defender’ option. Alternatively, go to the Start menu and choose the Settings option.
Select Update & Security Windows Security Virus & threat protection.
Select the option entitled Scan options or ‘Run a new advanced scan’ if you are using an older version of Windows.
Select the custom scan option and then choose Scan now.
From here, select the file or folder to be scanned.

How to Scan USB Using Windows Defender?

Follow these guidelines to scan a USB drive by using Windows Defender.

Go to the Windows Defender main screen by choosing it from the Settings option located from the Start menu.
Choose the Windows Defender option. Click Open Windows Defender and choose the Custom scan option.
Click Scan and then you will see a list of drives on the screen.
Click on the checkboxes beside the USB drives which have to be scanned and then deselect the drives that are not required.
Wait until the scan completes and click the appropriate buttons to delete any threats from the computer.

How to Get Windows Defender to Scan Automatically?

Follow the how to scan with Windows Defender steps below to perform scan automatically using the Windows Defender tool in Windows 10.

Click the Start icon on your Windows computer and type Task Scheduler in the search bar. Click the Task Scheduler option to open the Task Scheduler window.
Click the Windows Defender option from the displayed list on the left panel and double-click the Windows defender Scheduled Scan from the main panel of the screen.
Click the Triggers tab when the properties window appears on the screen.
Now, click the New button on the left side of the screen to create a new trigger and select the OK button to confirm it.

Make sure to choose On a Schedule option in a ‘Begin the task’ field.
Choose the duration to schedule the scan at regular intervals.
Tick the checkbox next to the Enabled option.
Select the OK button once you are done with the settings.
Select the Conditions tab and mark the checkbox next to the ‘Start the task only if the computer is on AC power’ feature.
After you modify all the settings, select the OK button on the left bottom of the screen to scan automatically on a regular basis.

How to Schedule Windows Defender Scan Windows 10?

Perform the following steps to schedule Windows scan on Windows 10.

Open the Schedule Tasks window and click the Task Scheduler Library on the left panel.
Go to Microsoft Windows Windows Defender, and then double-click the Windows Defender Scheduled Scan option.
Click the Triggers tab and select the New button to launch a new trigger window on the screen.
Choose the time and frequency of scanning.
Set the duration of the scan like daily, weekly, or on idle in the Begin the task field.
After you complete all the changes in the trigger window, click the OK button.

How to Run Windows Defender Scan?

You need to proceed with the following how to scan with Windows Defender steps to run the Scan on Windows 10

Select the Start icon on the main screen of your PC.
Click the Settings option and then select the Update & Security option in the Settings window.
Go to Windows Defender and scroll down to find the Open Windows Defender option at the bottom of the screen. Click the Open Windows Defender feature to open the Windows Defender page.
After opening the page, you will see the three scanning options, namely Quick scan, full scan, and custom scan displayed on the right panel.
The Quick scan will scan only the malware or application and virus in the system. If you want to scan the entire hard drive, prefer the Full scan option. You can choose the Custom Scan option when you need to scan only a selected folder. The Full scan may take more than 1 hour to complete.
Now, select the Scan option as per your requirement.
Depending on the scan option you have chosen, the scanning time may vary.
You can view the progress of the Windows Defender scanning process in the window. Wait until the process completes.