Windows Defender Scans daily, Can I reduce the frequency (Kenneth?)

Hi daily Windows Defender asks to scan my computer and nags the hell out of me about it. How can I reduce this to say once a week instead?

With a Pro edition you can specify which day of the week you want the scan to run in the local group policy editor. I am not sure on Home though.

Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender > Scans > Specify the day of the week to run a schedule scan.

Hmm thanks for that, yes I have W10 64 Home edition, I'm very unfamiliar with policy editing though but found a file called "AVSValidationGP.admx" under C:/windows/policyDefinitions.. ?? Don't even know how to open it, so didn't make the attempt! :)

Unfortunately in Windows 10 home I don't think there is a way to manage this. I could be wrong and hopefully someone else can comment otherwise. One of the downsides to Windows 10 that I have found is many things are setup automatically and cannot be changed when it comes to the basic security functions. This can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

I see Microsoft's point in doing this as it does not apply to this subject but Microsoft users often blame Windows for the lack of security when the user often fails by turning off UAC, not installing updates on time and messing with the settings in defender. So I would say you have to options...

Upgrade to pro so you have better management of your computer as Defender believe it or not does have a lot of settings in the group policy editor for configuration such as frequency of scan, frequency of different scans, heuristic, file types to be scanned and different drives which can be scanned. The group policy adds so much more as way s to manage cipher strength and encryption authentication types for Bitlocker, update setting control and a more customization UAC setup among a hole lot more.

As I understand many of these features do not matter to most users you could just opted for a paid AV which will give you that control and some argue a better protection.

Yes I think you are right, I am a little miffed at Microsoft for removing these options from Defender, options that I feel I should have the freedom to use. I guess I will have to start doing some research into some of the best free anti-virus programs available for W10.

It's a shame, defender hasn't let me down apart from it's terrible nagging on a daily basis, so it has to go!

Thanks for your input!