Windows 10, How do I set Windows Defender's scan schedule?

If what you say is true (runs autoscans by itself) then why when I last opened Defender did it list my last scan as occurring over 1 month earlier (a manual scan run by me) and the virus definitions shown as out of date? Empirical evidence suggests you aren't correct. I haven't changed any settings. I've also looked at a friend's win 10 PC and it had out of date definition settings as well and does not list any scans being performed at all.

Just a suggestion: when you folks setup a good thing, like Defender in Win  7, that is easily configurable, please leave it alone. As it stands right now, with your pared down Defender interface, I have absolutely no confidence that Defender is actually running scans or updating definitions on either machine. Both are set to install Windows updates automatically. To manually set daily definition updates and daily or weekly scans you have to be a Windows programmer to set it up through the task scheduler. This is really aggravating to your average user trying to gain some confidence that Defender is actually doing anything.

The Windows Defender Scheduled Scan task is triggered by Automatic Maintenance (along with the other tasks in the maintenance package), and you would reschedule Automatic Maintenance by following this path: Right-click on the Start button > Control Panel > Security & Maintenance >Maintenance > Automatic Maintenance > Change maintenance settings.

However, Automatic Maintenance only runs when the system is idle in order to avoid interfering with your work, so it will only run on schedule if you stop working at the scheduled time and then wait for it to finish. If you want a scheduled scan that starts on time and runs without interruptions, then you’ll have to set up an independent scheduled task:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect\_defender-protect\_scanning/how-do-i-set-windows-defender-to-a-custom-auto/ec19aab4-10ce-4f41-9990-343056fd104f

GreginMich

I went to Control Panel > Security and Maintenance > Change Maintenance and Security Settings. There is nothing at all about scheduled scans. There are only tick boxes for security and maintenance messages.

I am running Windows 10 Pro Version 1511 Build 10586.122.

I appear to be in a loop here on the answers site -- the links all lead to each other like Ouroboros.

Corporate IT requires a full scan every week if I am to connect to the corporate VPN. A quick scan is detected and my connection is refused. How can I run a full scan from the command line or the task scheduler?

Please note that a Quick Scan is performed daily by Automatic Maintenance without any scheduling – that’s the main point of the answer here. Copy and paste this command at the prompt to put the CLI syntax on your desktop:

"C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -h >Desktop\WDcmd.txt 

Batch file for a CLI Full Scan with optional shutdown:

@echo off

powercfg -change -standby-timeout-ac 200

Cd C:\Program Files\Windows Defender

MpCmdRun.exe -Scan -ScanType 2

powercfg -change -standby-timeout-ac 20

shutdown -s -t 300

Batch file for a Windows Defender UI Full Scan:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect\_defender-protect\_scanning/windows-defender-scan-stops-when-windows-sleeps/f34df2d2-4245-4a24-906c-bada11b6d457?page=2

Simple scheduled Full Scan with wake/don’t sleep enabled:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect\_defender-protect\_scanning/how-do-i-set-windows-defender-to-a-custom-auto/ec19aab4-10ce-4f41-9990-343056fd104f

Full-featured scheduled scan:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/mse-protect\_start/running-mse-full-scan-as-a-scheduled-task/f627f5ce-0b74-4b1d-be64-d6ceeb4d9b02

GreginMIch