#Windows defender offline keeps running install
#Windows defender offline keeps running license

Upon completion it’ll either report what was found, or as in my example, report a clean bill of health: Once fully loaded Windows Defender Offline immediately begins scanning: Then a Windows Defender Offline activity indicator: You’ll get the (new) Windows Logo for a bit: (It’s important to create new media each time, as the malware definitions are part of the media, and you want to make sure you have the latest available.) Running Windows Defender Offlineīoot from whatever media you just created. This may take some time since the actual Windows Defender Offline program is not actually downloaded until this point. The tool will then create the media you requested – burning it to a blank CD, creating a bootable USB drive, or writing an ISO file you can later burn to CD yourself.

#Windows defender offline keeps running license

First you download the creation tool 1 from the Microsoft website, and then run that tool to create the actual bootable Windows Defender Offline media.Īfter running the tool and accepting the inevitable license agreement, you’re offered a choice of what to create:Ĭhoose whatever is most convenient and you know your machine can boot from. Getting Windows Defender Offline is a two step process.

An off-line anti-malware tool in the form of Windows Defender Offline.Īs we’ll see in a moment, Windows Defender Offline looks a lot like the Windows Defender that’s actually installed in Windows 10.

This is, essentially, Microsoft Security Essentials renamed to be called Windows Defender.

An anti- malware tool that comes with Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.

Installing Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) anti- malware replaces Windows Defender, as MSE scans for all types of malware, including spyware.

An anti- spyware–only tool that runs in Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

There have been, I think, three different Windows Defenders: We first need to talk about the name, “Windows Defender”. Microsoft continues to confuse us with their choice of product names. There are several, but my first choice is Microsoft’s own Windows Defender Offline. You then configure your computer’s BIOS or UEFI to boot from the CD or USB, reboot, and instead of starting Windows you’re running the anti-malware tool instead that can then scan the hard disk in your system.

#Windows defender offline keeps running install

The most common next step is to download a bootable anti-malware disc, and burn it to CD or install it on a USB flash drive. One of the more difficult situations to find yourself in is to have a malware-infected machine that either won’t boot, or won’t allow you to run anti-malware tools because of the infection.