Windows Defender: Automatically Scan Your Computer

Schedule when Windows Defender scans your computer

Microsoft recommends that when you set up Windows Defender, you schedule it to perform a daily quick scan. A quick scan will check the areas of your computer that spyware and other potentially unwanted software is most likely to infect. If you want Windows Defender to check all files and programs on your computer, run or schedule a full scan.

To enhance the security of your computer, you can choose to automatically remove spyware and other potentially unwanted software if it is detected during a scan.

Note: To complete these steps, you must be logged on as an Administrator or be a member of the Administrators group.

To schedule a scan using Windows Defender

1. Open Windows Defender (click Start, type Windows Defender in the search field, and press Enter).

2. Click Tools, and then click Options.

   

3. Under Automatic scanning, select the Automatically scan my computer (recommended) check box, and then select the frequency, time of day, and type of scan that you want to run.

4. To automatically remove spyware or other potentially unwanted software after a scan, select the Apply actions on detected items after scanning check box.

5. Under Default actions, select the action that you want to apply to each Windows Defender alert, and then click Save.