Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), a tool that scanned for all types of malware, could be downloaded, and replaced Windows Defender when installed. Windows Defender was the name of a tool that only scanned for spyware, and not other forms of malware, that ran in Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.It’s important to understand exactly which “Defender” we’re talking about, since Microsoft continues to confuse us with their choice of product names. Without needing to download anything, you can boot your computer into “Windows Defender Offline” – a copy of Windows 10’s built-in anti-malware tool, running in a separate, isolated, dedicated copy of Windows 10.

Windows 10 actually built in this capability. Once running, this isolated operating system can run anti-malware tools that are much more likely to resolve the issue. One of the most common solutions in the past has been to boot your computer from a DVD or USB drive that contains its own operating system, bypassing both Windows and the malware that might be interfering. Occasionally, malware prevents your anti-malware tools from running, or is designed in such a way that anti-malware tools may not be able to actually eradicate the infection while Windows is running.

Microsoft defender offline scan