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How to turn on Windows Defender in Windows 8

Anonymous User 4425 26 May 2015 Updated 13 May 2026

Hi everyone in this article I’m explaining about windowsdefender in windows 8.

Details:

Microsoft acknowledged the growing threat of spyware withthe launch of Windows Defender a few years ago. It’s available for Windows XPthrough to Windows 7. In Windows 8, which is the most secure version of the OSso far, Microsoft provided an enhanced version of Defender which also protectsagainst malware – effectively rolling Security Essentials and Defender intoone.

This rubbed all the security software companies up the wrongway, so Microsoft provided an option to turn off Defender when a trial versionof a security suite was installed on a new PC or laptop – it’s bad practice torun more than one antimalware engine at the same time. They will probablyconflict with each other and cause severe performance problems.

However, should you decide not to activate that McAfee orNorton trial, Defender won’t automatically enable itself again, so you’re leftunprotected from the viruses, Trojans and other nasties that could play havocwith your system, and even leave you out of pocket.

It’s easy enough to check if Defender is running: simplylook for its icon in the Notification area (the space to the left of the clockto the right of the Taskbar). It might be in the list of hidden icons, so clickthe little upward-pointing arrow and look for a castle icon.

Don’t worry if you can’t find it – it may still be running,or your computer might already be running other security software which isdoing a similar job. However, if you’re still not sure or you know yourcomputer definitely doesn’t have an antivirus program or security suite, here’show to enable Windows Defender.

Step 1 :In the Start menu (or on Windows 8’sstart screen) type Defender. Windows Defender should appear in the list. Clickon it to launch the program. If it’s already running, and you see the mainwindow.              How to turn on Windows Defender in Windows 8


Step 2 : Youmight see a message like the one below, showing that Defender is
turned off andisn’t protecting your computer. If so, search for Action Center in the
Startmenu (or screen if using Windows 8) and run that.
              How to turn on Windows Defender in Windows 8

Step 3 : InAction Center, click on the Security tab to check which program is
handlingspyware and unwanted software protection. If you want to enable
Defender inplace of another suite such as McAfee, you should use the Control
Panel touninstall that first.

 How to turn on Windows Defender in Windows 8

 

Step 4 : When that’s done, type Defender again in the Start menu and, if it’s turned
off, you’ll see a message and a link to turn it on. Click it to turn on Windows
Defender.

How to turn on Windows Defender in Windows 8

 

Step 5: Assuming your computer isn’t protected, the Windows Defender main
window will open on the desktop. Chances are, the spyware definitions will be out
of date, so now’s the time to update them. Click the Check for Updates button.           
How to turn on Windows Defender in Windows 8

 

Step 6 : When that’s done, you should see a nice green bar showing that Defender
is up to date and protecting your computer.

How to turn on Windows Defender in Windows 8


Step 7 : Click the Tools link at the top, and then on Real-time protection in the left
pane. Check that it’s enabled and then choose options for scanning downloads,
attachments and programs that run on the computer. We advise enabling all the
options here.
How to turn on Windows Defender in Windows 8

As mentioned at the beginning, in versions of Windows priorto 8, Windows Defender does not scan for viruses, so ensure that your computerhas some antivirus software installed.

check more post on windows 8 troubleshooting here


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