How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10  

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    How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10

    How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10

    Published by Category: Security System
    31 Jan 2022
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10

    Microsoft Defender Antivirus helps protect your PC against malware (malicious software) like viruses, spyware, and other potentially unwanted software. Malware can infect your PC without your knowledge: it might install itself from an email message, when you connect to the Internet, or when you install certain apps using a USB flash drive, CD, DVD, or other removable media. Some malware can also be programmed to run at unexpected times, not only when it's installed.

    Microsoft Defender Antivirus is included with Windows and helps keep malware from infecting your PC in two ways:
    • Providing real-time protection. Microsoft Defender Antivirus notifies you when malware tries to install itself or run on your PC. It also notifies you when apps try to change important settings.
    • Providing anytime scanning options. Microsoft Defender Antivirus automatically scans your PC for installed malware on a regular basis, but you can also manually start a scan whenever you want. Microsoft Defender Antivrius automatically removes (or temporarily quarantines) anything that's detected during a scan.

    Windows Defender Antivirus regularly scans your device to help keep it safe. Windows tries to do this while you are not using your device so it doesn’t interfere with your work. You can also schedule Windows Defender Antivirus to scan at a time and frequency that you choose.

    See also:

    This tutorial will show you how to schedule a scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus for when you want in Windows 10.



    Here's How:

    1 Press the Win + R keys to open Run, type taskschd.msc into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Task Scheduler.

    2 Expand open the Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows folders in the left pane of Task Scheduler, and click/tap on the Windows Defender folder. (see screenshot below step 3)

    3 Double click/tap on the Windows Defender Scheduled Scan task in the center pane of Task Scheduler. (see screenshot below)

    How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10-windows_defender_antivirus_schedule_scan-1.png

    4 Click/tap on the Triggers tab, and click/tap on the New button. (see screenshot below)

    How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10-windows_defender_antivirus_schedule_scan-2.png

    5 Perform the following actions below to create a new trigger: (see screenshots below)

    A) Select On a schedule in the Begin the task drop menu.

    B) Select (dot) One time, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly for how often you want scans to run.

    C) Select when you want scans to start.

    D) Click/tap on OK when finished.

    How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10-windows_defender_antivirus_schedule_scan-3a.png How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10-windows_defender_antivirus_schedule_scan-3b.png
    How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10-windows_defender_antivirus_schedule_scan-3c.png How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10-windows_defender_antivirus_schedule_scan-3d.png

    6 You will now see your new scheduled task listed. (see screenshots below)

    If you should ever want to delete a scheduled task, you would select the task you want to delete, and click/tap on the Delete button.

    How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10-windows_defender_antivirus_schedule_scan-4.png

    7 Click/tap on the Conditions tab, check or uncheck the Power settings below for what you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    • Start the task only if the computer is on AC power
      • Stop if the computer switches to battery power

    • Wake the computer to run this task

    How to Schedule a Scan in Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10-windows_defender_antivirus_schedule_scan-5.png

    8 You can now close Task Scheduler if you like.


    That's it,
    Shawn Brink






  1. Posts : 2,450
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #1

    Hi Shawn,

    Excellent, as always tutorial!

    May I add that basic daily or weekly scan scheduling can also be done natively in Windows Defender, via PowerShell.

    To do it, in an elevated PowerShell:

    A. To set which day of the week Windows Defender performs a scan, run the command: Set-MpPreference -ScanScheduleDay <Day>
    Where <day>:
    Specifies the day of the week on which to perform a scheduled scan. Alternatively, specify everyday for a scheduled scan or never. The acceptable values for this parameter are:
    0: Everyday
    1: Sunday
    2: Monday
    3: Tuesday
    4: Wednesday
    5: Thursday
    6: Friday
    7: Saturday
    8: Never

    Examples:
    To run a scan every Sunday enter the command:
    Code:
    Set-MpPreference -ScanScheduleDay 1
    To run a scan daily enter the command:
    Code:
    Set-MpPreference -ScanScheduleDay 0

    B. To set the time of the day Windows Defender performs a scan, run the command: Set-MpPreference -ScanScheduleTime <Time>
    Where <Time>:
    Specifies the time of day, as the number of minutes after midnight, to perform a scheduled scan. The time refers to the local time on the computer. If you do not specify a value for this parameter, a scheduled scan runs at a default time of two hours after midnight.

    Examples:
    To run a scan at 4:30am enter the command:
    Code:
    Set-MpPreference -ScanScheduleTime 04:30:00
    To run a scan at 10pm enter the command:
    Code:
    Set-MpPreference -ScanScheduleTime 22:00:00

    C. To check that your schedule has been set correctly, run the command:
    Code:
    Get-MpPreference | select ScanSchedule* | FL

    Although this approach is not as flexible as the one done via the Task Scheduler, it can do basic scheduling. If you think that is worth mentioning, maybe you can add it as another option in the tutorial.

    Take care.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Great addition @ddelo Dimitri. Thank you.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 2,450
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #3

    Anytime mate!
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 15
    Win 10
       #4

    Thank you, but . . . this does not work.

    All I keep getting is a 0x2 message which means, I think, that it is not working (i. e., file is not found).
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Hmm, I don't even have the task available on my system.

    EDIT:

    Seems the task is no longer available on my laptop, but is available on my desktop. Both are running the same build 18290.
    Last edited by Brink; 02 Dec 2018 at 10:08.
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #6

    mwidunn said:
    Thank you, but . . . this does not work.

    All I keep getting is a 0x2 message which means, I think, that it is not working (i. e., file is not found).

    Double check to see if you still have the file below.

    C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 15
    Win 10
       #7

    Brink said:
    Double check to see if you still have the file below.

    C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe
    Checked! I do have it.

    I found something to put in Command Prompt which does seem to work (namely, a Quick Scan occurs at the time I specify everyday).

    But, trying to set a scheduled scan as a Task simply will not work for me.

    Didn't this work so well in MSE . . . and, now, in new, improved, best-ever Win10 . . . it doesn't.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 116
    Windows 10 Pro
       #8

    Thanks Brink. Just wondering why you can't do this within the app though?
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 68,668
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #9

    g41851 said:
    Thanks Brink. Just wondering why you can't do this within the app though?

    It would be nice to have an option in Windows Security to schedule a scan.

    Please send feedback to Microsoft requesting this feature in the Feedback Hub app. If enough people requests or upvote feedback for it, Microsoft may add it.
      My Computers


 

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