Windows Defender - what is it? How do I disable Windows Defender 7? Windows 8 Defender

Every Windows user knows that without high-quality antivirus, you should not go online. To date, experts can not even say how many malware exists. They agree only on the fact that there are at least several million of them.

Of course, your system needs to be protected from data loss and system files, but how to do it without spending money on an antivirus? There are a lot of free versions of these programs, but they do not inspire experienced users to experienced users. In addition, free antiviruses require a special approach to their configuration, so novice users often can not cope with them.

Fortunately, there is a completely free and effective solution from Microsoft Corporation itself . It's called Windows Defender. What it is? We will discuss this issue.

How it all began

It is known that the legends about the susceptibility of systems from Microsoft to virus attacks have a long history. It all started back in 1995, when several world epidemics almost brought down the global software industry.

Antiviruses were then perceived as useless toys, but the reality quickly cooled users. The very first manufacturer of antivirus software, which became the "number one" in our country, was the laboratory of Igor Danilov, in which "Doctor Web" was created. Then came "Kaspersky" and other products, the number of which today amounts to several dozen.

The same situation persisted until 2006, when Windows Vista came out. Then there was Windows Defender. What is it? This is the name of the anti-virus program that was created by Microsoft itself. Contrary to the statements of skeptics, it immediately proved to be a reliable and really effective anti-virus tool that really protected the system from virus attacks.

However, then the application was also called "Windows Defender", and did not get much popularity. In many respects this was due to the prejudice of users.

And only after the solemn appearance of Windows 7, when sales reached record heights, users became interested in Windows Defender. What did this mean? Only the fact that the "Defender" by that time had already proved itself not only as a free, but also an extremely effective program.

MSE

Let's make an important digression: do not confuse Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender. What does it mean? The first program is a normal antivirus that runs in resident mode. He appeared relatively recently, became known for his full freeness and the desire to work exclusively on licensed systems. "Defender" also refers to scanners. It does not work constantly, it starts only at the request of the user. If the MSE is installed on the system where the "Defender" is installed, the first utility is automatically disabled.

Windows 8

When this operating system from Microsoft appeared, the Internet simply boiled. In thousands of domestic and foreign computer forums, its merits and demerits were discussed, and often disputes led interlocutors to mutual insults.

Whatever it was, Windows 8, "Defender" in which it became a regular antivirus program, by now continues to gain popularity. To a large extent, this is due to the qualities of Defender, which turned into a decent antivirus, whereas earlier its modules performed only the function of a scanner. Yes, in the "Eight" MSE and Defender merged into one application, which absorbed the merits of both predecessors.

basic settings

Just note that in the classic "Defender", which comes with Windows Vista / 7, there are no special settings. Let's make sure of this.

Run the program. How to do it? Click the "Start" button, select "Control Panel" in which there is a "Windows Defender" item. Click on it with the left mouse button, then you will see the main dialog box of the program.

First click the button "Check for Updates". As a rule, updates are downloaded through the Windows Update service, but it will not hurt to be reinsured. Attention! Windows Defender, which has not been updated for a long time, is practically useless.

If you opened the program for the first time, the "Check now" button will appear in the main dialog box. We recommend that you first update the database, and then click on it, since without normal virus definitions, the results of the scan are likely to be unreliable.

Varieties

By clicking on the gear icon, you enter the window in which you specify the scan settings. There are three of them at once.

Fast type. If you select it, only those system areas that are statistically affected by malware most often will be tested. As a rule, the whole process takes no more than a few minutes. Since by default this type of check is worth, it can not be specially set up.

Full scan. In this case, the whole system is scanned. Attention! Since absolutely all the directories on the computer will be scanned, the performance of the PC can be seriously affected. In addition, the time it takes is at least an hour, so running the test is best at night or at a time when you do not need a computer. To activate this method, select "Scan", then select the required option in it.

Selective scanning. As you can understand from the title, only those areas of the system that you specify with your own hand will be checked. As in the previous case, the process itself can take a very long time (if you marked many directories).

If a virus is detected

In this case, Windows Defender does not lag behind other antivirus programs. What does it mean? Before you appear a large red dialog box in which you can choose how the program should deal with the infected file: delete, quarantine, ignore. If you are not sure that the file is safe, we strongly recommend that you delete it.

Disable the "Defender"

And how to disable the "Defender" Windows 7? Most often, such a need can arise in the case of installing third-party antivirus software, when the need for a regular utility is eliminated.

Disabling it is simple enough. First of all click on the "Start" button, in the opened menu, find the "Search" field, then enter the word "services" in it. A window with the search results will open, in which you need to click the left mouse button on the item with the same name. In the list we are looking for the item "Windows Defender". Click on it with the right mouse button, select the option "Stop the service" in the pop-up menu. Restart the system, enjoy disabling the "Defender".

So it's easy to disable the program in Windows 8: Defender there is deeply integrated into the system, and therefore it is not always possible to manage the standard means.

The same can be done from the window of the program itself. To do this, select "Tools / Options". There is an option "Administrator". Click on this item with the left mouse button, confirm your intentions by clicking "Yes" in UAC, then uncheck "Use this program". Restart the computer. Here's how to disable the "Defender" Windows 7. Similarly, the program is deactivated in Windows Vista.

In Windows 8, "Defender" is also disabled through services. Once again we note that you do not need to disable it when installing third-party antivirus software: all this will be done automatically. The need for this can only appear if there are any failures.

Important!

We advise you not to unnecessarily disable Windows Defender: Windows 7 in this case remains completely defenseless in the face of numerous malicious programs.