Windows 10: Enable or Disable Scan Archive Files by Windows Defender in Windows 10

How to: Enable or Disable Scan Archive Files by Windows Defender in Windows 10


Information Windows Defender helps protect your PC against malware (malicious software) like viruses, spyware, and other potentially unwanted software. Malware can infect your PC without your knowledge: it might install itself from an email message, when you connect to the Internet, or when you install certain apps using a USB flash drive, CD, DVD, or other removable media. Some malware can also be programmed to run at unexpected times, not only when it's installed.

You can set a group policy that allows you to manage whether or not Windows Defender scans for malicious software and unwanted software in archive files such as .ZIP or .CAB files.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable if Windows Defender will scan archive files such as .ZIP or .CAB files in Windows 10.

You must be signed in as an administrator to enable or disable to scan archive files.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Enable or Disable Scan Archive Files by Windows Defender in PowerShell
• Option Two: To Enable or Disable Scan Archive Files by Windows Defender in Group Policy
• Option Three: To Enable or Disable Scan Archive Files by Windows Defender using a REG file

EXAMPLE: Windows Defender








OPTION ONE [/i] To Enable or Disable Scan Archive Files by Windows Defender in PowerShell
1. Open an elevated PowerShell.

2. Enter the command below you want to use into PowerShell, and press Enter. (see screenshots below)
(Enable)
*Arrow Set-MpPreference -DisableArchiveScanning 0

OR

(Disable)
*Arrow Set-MpPreference -DisableArchiveScanning 1
3. When finished, you can close PowerShell if you like.











OPTION TWO [/i] To Enable or Disable Scan Archive Files with Windows Defender in Group Policy


Note Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

All editions can use Option One or Option Three.

1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.

2. In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Defender/Scan




3. In the right pane of Scan in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Scan archive files policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4. Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


5. To Enable Scan Archive Files by Windows Defender
A) Select (dot) Enabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
6. To Disable Scan Archive Files by Windows Defender
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

NOTE: Not Configured is the default setting.




7. When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.




OPTION THREE [/i] To Enable or Disable Scan Archive Files with Windows Defender using a REG file


Note The .reg files below will add and modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scan

DisableArchiveScanning DWORD

0 or (delete) = enable scan
1 = disable scan

1. Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


2. To Enable Scan Archive Files by Windows Defender
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Enable_scan_archive_files_by_Windows_Defender.reg

Download

3. To Disable Scan Archive Files by Windows Defender
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Disable_scan_archive_files_by_Windows_Defender.reg

Download
4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. If prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. Restart the computer to apply.

8. If you like, you can now delete the downloaded .reg file.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Zip (compress) a File or Folder in Windows 10
• How to Create a Windows Defender Antivirus Shortcut in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Windows Defender in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Windows 10 Limited Periodic Scanning with Windows Defender
• How to Enable or Disable Windows Defender Block at First Sight in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove Exclusions for Windows Defender in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Windows Defender Real-time Protection in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove 'Scan with Windows Defender' Context Menu in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove Windows Defender context menu in Windows 10
• Enable or Disable Scan Mapped Network Drives with Windows Defender in Windows 10
• Enable or Disable Scan Removable Drives during Windows Defender Full Scan in Windows 10
• How to Manually Scan Files, Folders, and Drives with Windows Defender in Windows 10
• How to Schedule a Scan in Windows Defender Antivirus in Windows 10
• How to Specify Scheduled Scan Type for Windows Defender Antivirus in Windows 10
• How to Change Windows Defender Antivirus Maximum CPU Usage for a Scan in Windows 10

:)

 

Windows 10 Defender - How to make it default to task bar?

Using Windows 10 and currently I am using Defender for anti virus. For whatever reason Windows Defender does not show up in the task bar unless I search for the program or right click and scan a file/folder. Is there a way to force Defender to show up in the task bar at start up?

 

How can I exclude archive files for a scan in windows 10?

Windows defender used to have an option to exclude archive files while scanning, but in windows 10 I can't find that option so it takes a lot of time to scan files which may contain archive or zipped files, now I know one option would be to put the extension
of each archive file in the exclusion box but that will also get uncomfortable if you want to treat a scan with the exclusion and another scan without the exclusion plus I might not know all those extensions available for archive files, so is there a way to
enable that option in windows defender running in windows 10?

 

How can I exclude archive files for a scan in windows 10?

Windows Defender is highly configurable in Windows 10, but the configuration can only be done via the
PowerShell cmdlets or the Group Policy
settings:

-DisableArchiveScanning<Boolean>

Indicates whether to scan archive files, such as .zip and .cab files, for malicious and unwanted software. If you specify a value of $True or do not specify a value, Windows Defender scans archive files.

The TechNet documentation for the -DisableArchiveScanning
parameter is wrong. This parameter is actually set to False (Disable
False) by default, which means that archive scanning is enabled. You can confirm this by running the
Get-MpPreference command in PowerShell. So in order to disable archive scanning, you would run this command at the elevated PowerShell prompt:

Set-MpPreference -DisableArchiveScanning $True

Set-MpPreference (defender)

Some of the Set-MpPreference settings appear to be either nonfunctional or dysfunctional, but this particular setting seems to work fine – and it had a very pronounced effect on the duration of my Full Scans when I tested it here:

Windows defender taking more then 9 hours! And scans more files than I have?

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Do you use Windows Defender?

I like Windows Defender, personally. It seems really lightweight and is never annoying. It just sits in the background and works. I don't tend to run across many viruses, so it doesn't make sense to me to worry about it too much.

I'd rate it on how paranoid you are about viruses.

Completely Confident: No Anti-Virus programs, Windows Defender disabled.

Somewhat Suspicious: No Real-Time protection, occasionally scan files manually. (Third party software or Windows Defender with Real-Time disabled.)

Awfully Analytical: Light Real-Time protection from a third party program, monthly scans scheduled.

Peak Paranoia: Heavy Real-Time protection, multiple third party programs, weekly scans.

Edit: Also, if you are going to disable it, disable it in services.msc or through Windows Defender itself. It may think it's been "attacked" if it sees itself being disabled. Might as well look up a guide to unneeded services while you're at it. There are quite a few that people typically don't use. Remote Procedure Call? Yes. Dial Up Networking Support? No.

Another Edit: I guess eidairaman1 beat me to my edit. *Frown