Windows 10: Windows Defender not scanning

Dear All,

I was recently checking my windows defender setting and decided to open windows defender setting from search, which opened up this


.
surprised, I decided to open up virus & threat protection to check from there but this showed up with most items showing not available.



i tried to to update but it wont do anything. I tried to manually update (downloaded from Microsoft website). it still dint do anything.
then i decided to check Virus & Threat Protection settings and this showed




Therefore i decided to download malware bytes and found 16 threats, report attached

Please help me out on what I should do next. if you need anything else.. please let me know!

:)

 

defender scans

Hi Ian,

Thanks for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

This issue might occur if you have set any task scheduler for Windows Defender.

I suggest you to delete the task for Windows defender and check if it helps.

Follow the below steps:

• 
  Search and open Schedule tasks.
  
• 
  In the left-hand menu, open the Task Scheduler Library, then select
  Microsoft >Windows >Windows Defender.
  
• 
  Double-click Windows Defender Scheduled Scan.
  
• 
  Select the Triggers panel, then select Delete.
  

Hope it helps, reply to us with the status of your issue. We will be happy to assist you.

 

right click scan in windows defender?


thanks for that.. i didn't notice the tutorial section :x

I did the suggested registry change and it's now listed on the desktop context menu.. but all this does is ask if I want to open it, update, or start a scan... I was hoping for the option where you right click a specific file and it will have listed 'scan with windows defender' like other antivirus programs have.. MSE had it. I'll keep looking around to see if I can find it in the meantime..

 

Windows defender custom scan does not scan external drives

Hi Joe,

to scan external drives using Windows Defender, follow the steps provided below.

• Open Windows Defender.
• Go to Settings tab.
• Select the Advanced option.
• tick the checkbox for Scan removable drives.

Regards.