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Sharif Garmon
Windows 10 and 11 include Windows Security, which provides the latest antivirus protection. Your device will be actively protected from the moment you start Windows. Windows Security continually scans for malware (malicious software), viruses, and security threats. In addition to this real-time protection, updates are downloaded automatically to help keep your device safe and protect it from threats.
Windows Security is built-in to Windows and includes an antivirus program called Microsoft Defender Antivirus. (In early versions of Windows 10, Windows Security is called Windows Defender Security Center).
If you have another antivirus app installed and turned on, Microsoft Defender Antivirus will turn off automatically. If you uninstall the other app, Microsoft Defender Antivirus will turn back on automatically.
Virus & threat protection - Monitor threats to your device, run scans, and get updates to help detect the latest threats. (Some of these options are unavailable if you're running Windows 10 in S mode.)
App & browser control - Update settings for Microsoft Defender SmartScreen to help protect your device against potentially dangerous apps, files, sites, and downloads. You'll have exploit protection and you can customize protection settings for your devices.
Sometimes you may need to briefly stop running real-time protection. While real-time protection is off, files you open or download won't be scanned for threats. However, real-time protection will soon turn on automatically again to protect your device.
Microsoft Defender Antivirus is a major component of your next-generation protection in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. This protection brings together machine learning, big-data analysis, in-depth threat resistance research, and the Microsoft cloud infrastructure to protect devices (or endpoints) in your organization. Microsoft Defender Antivirus is built into Windows, and it works with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to provide protection on your device and in the cloud.
As a companion to this article, see our Security Analyzer setup guide to review best practices and learn to fortify defenses, improve compliance, and navigate the cybersecurity landscape with confidence. For a customized experience based on your environment, you can access the Security Analyzer automated setup guide in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Microsoft Defender Antivirus provides anomaly detection, a layer of protection for malware that doesn't fit any predefined pattern. Anomaly detection monitors for process creation events or files that are downloaded from the internet. Through machine learning and cloud-delivered protection, Microsoft Defender Antivirus can stay one step ahead of attackers. Anomaly detection is on by default and can help block attacks such as 3CX Security Alert for Electron Windows App. Microsoft Defender Antivirus started blocking this malware four days before the attack was registered in VirusTotal.
Modern malware requires modern solutions. In 2015, Microsoft Defender Antivirus moved away from using a static signature-based engine to a model that uses predictive technologies such as, machine learning, applied science, and artificial intelligence as this is what's necessary to keep you and your organizations safe from the complexity of today's ever-evolving malware landscape.
We've also designed our antivirus solution to work in both online and offline scenarios. For offline scenarios, the latest dynamic intelligence from the Intelligence Security Graph is provisioned to the endpoint regularly throughout the day. When connected to the cloud, it's fed real-time intelligence from the Intelligent Security Graph.
Microsoft Defender Antivirus can also stop threats based on their behaviors and process trees even when the threat has started execution. A common example of these kinds of attacks is fileless malware. Microsoft's Next-generation protection features work together to identify and block malware based on abnormal behavior. To learn more, see Behavioral blocking and containment.
If you're using a non-Microsoft antivirus/antimalware product on your device, you might be able to run Microsoft Defender Antivirus in passive mode alongside the non-Microsoft antivirus solution. It depends on the operating system used and whether your device is onboarded to Defender for Endpoint. To learn more, see Microsoft Defender Antivirus compatibility.
Beginning with platform version 4.18.2208.0 and later: If a server has been onboarded to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, the "Turn off Windows Defender" group policy setting will no longer completely disable Windows Defender Antivirus on Windows Server 2012 R2 and later. Instead, it will place it into passive mode. In addition, the tamper protection feature will allow a switch to active mode but not to passive mode.
Note the modified logic for ForceDefenderPassiveMode when tamper protection is enabled: Once Microsoft Defender Antivirus is toggled to active mode, tamper protection will prevent it from going back into passive mode even when ForceDefenderPassiveMode is set to 1.
Passive mode means Microsoft Defender Antivirus running, but is not the primary antivirus/antimalware product on your device. Passive mode is only available for devices that are onboarded to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and that meet certain requirements. To learn more, see Requirements for Microsoft Defender Antivirus to run in passive mode.
EDR Block Mode means Microsoft Defender Antivirus is running and Endpoint detection and response (EDR) in block mode, a capability in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, is enabled. Check the ForceDefenderPassiveMode registry key. If its value is 0, it is running in normal mode; otherwise, it is running in passive mode.
Performance tip Due to a variety of factors (examples listed below) Microsoft Defender Antivirus, like other antivirus software, can cause performance issues on endpoint devices. In some cases, you might need to tune the performance of Microsoft Defender Antivirus to alleviate those performance issues. Microsoft's Performance analyzer is a PowerShell command-line tool that helps determine which files, file paths, processes, and file extensions might be causing performance issues; some examples are:
It's important to keep Microsoft Defender Antivirus (or any antivirus/antimalware solution) up to date. Microsoft releases regular updates to help ensure that your devices have the latest technology to protect against new malware and attack techniques. To learn more, see Manage Microsoft Defender Antivirus updates and apply baselines.
Beginning with Windows 10, version 1703 and later, Microsoft Defender Antivirus settings are viewable in the Windows Security app. See Windows Security for more information about security features and settings that are built into Windows.
Disabling the Windows Security app does not disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus or Windows Defender Firewall. These capabilities are disabled or set to passive mode when non-Microsoft antivirus/antimalware software is installed on the device and kept up to date.If you do disable the Windows Security app, or configure its associated Group Policy settings to prevent it from starting or running, the Windows Security app might display stale or inaccurate information about any antivirus or firewall products that are installed on the device.It might also prevent Microsoft Defender Antivirus from re-enabling when you uninstall any non-Microsoft antivirus/antimalware software.Disabling the Windows Security app can significantly lower the level protection of your device and could lead to malware infection.
If these settings are configured and deployed using Group Policy, the settings described in this section will be greyed-out and unavailable for use on individual endpoints. Changes made through a Group Policy Object must first be deployed to individual endpoints before the setting will be updated in Windows Settings. The Configure end-user interaction with Microsoft Defender Antivirus topic describes how local policy override settings can be configured.
Select Virus & threat protection updates. The currently installed version is displayed along with some information about when it was downloaded. You can check your current against the latest version available for manual download, or review the change log for that version. See Security intelligence updates for Microsoft Defender Antivirus and other Microsoft antimalware.
If you switch Real-time protection off, it will automatically turn back on after a short delay. This is to ensure you are protected from malware and threats.If you install another antivirus product, Microsoft Defender Antivirus automatically disables itself and is indicated as such in the Windows Security app. A setting will appear that will allow you to enable limited periodic scanning.
To set up ransomware recovery options, select Set up under Ransomware data recovery and follow the instructions for linking or setting up your OneDrive account so you can easily recover from a ransomware attack.
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A type of malware that infects your computer often through malicious downloads or deceptive links. Viruses are designed to spread themselves across files and programs as well as across networks to other devices. Indications that you may have a virus on your computer include slowdowns,
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