Protect Your PC With Windows Defender

Finding Windows Defender

To learn how to set up and use Windows Defender, you first need to find it. The easiest way is to type "defender" in the search window at the bottom left of the taskbar. The window is next to the Start button.

Main Window

When Windows Defender opens, you'll see this screen. The first thing to notice is the color. A yellow bar at the top computer monitor here, along with the exclamation point, is Microsoft's not-too-subtle way of telling you that you need to take some action. Notice that it ways "PC status: Potentially unprotected" at the top, in case you missed all the other warnings.

In this case, the text tells us that we need to run a scan. Underneath, the check marks tell us that "Real-time protection" is on, meaning that Defender is continuously running and that my virus definitions are "Up to date." That means Defender has the latest descriptions of viruses loaded and should be able to recognize the latest threats to the computer.

There's also a Scan now button, to manually kick off a scan, and below that, the details of my last scan, including what kind it was.

To the right are three scan options. Let's go through them. (Also note that the phrase "Scan options" is only partially visible. This appears to be a glitch in the program, so don't worry about it.)

• Quick scan. This checks the areas that malware is most likely to reside. It's not as thorough as a full scan but is much faster. It's usually enough to keep you safe.
• Full scan. This scan checks everything on your hard drive. It's slow, and can take a long time, but is more likely to find a bit of malware hiding in an unexpected place.
• Custom scan. You can pick and choose the files and places you want to scan. Leave this alone unless you're a high-level user.

Update Tab

What you've seen so far is the information in the Home tab, which is where you'll spend most of your time. The Update tab, next to it, lists the last time your virus and spyware definitions were updated. The only time you need to pay attention to what's here is when the definitions are old because Defender won't know what to look for, and newer malware could infect your PC.

History Tab

The final tab is labeled History. This informs you what malware was found, and what Defender is doing with it. By clicking the View details button, you can see what items are in each of these categories. As with the Update tab, you probably won't spend much time here, unless you're tracking down a particular bit of malware.

Scanning...

Once you press the Scan now button, the scan will start, and you'll get a progress window showing how much of your computer has been scanned. The information also tells you what type of scan is being done; when you started it; how long it's been going; and how many items, like files and folders, have been scanned.