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Microsoft has released an update to fix that behavior, see Update KB4052623: Microsoft fixes Defender ScanSkip Bug. See also the marked answer.
Windows Defender, "Items Skipped During Scan"
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Anonymous
I keep getting this notification after quick scans, "Windows Defender skipped an item due to exclusions or network protection settings."
To make this clear: I don't have ANY exclusions, and as far as I'm aware, I haven't changed my network protection settings in the past.
What's going on? Is this malware, or a bug with the new update? How do I fix this? I want to be reassured that I'm safe, this isn't very reassuring.
EDIT: Thank you to Techradar for bringing this issue to light. If any employees read this, could you perhaps re-title it in a way which doesn't make users feel so endangered by the bug? All of us have come to the conlusion that (especially with MBAM) we should be clear.
Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
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Anonymous
2020-03-12T19:56:27+00:00 I just wanted to revive this post to say after this morning's updates I still have the issue. Could I get some clarification that this is still going on and I wasn't the one very unlucky man?
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Anonymous
2020-03-15T11:19:05+00:00 I ran an online scan with both ESET and Malwarebytes and they found nothing. I finally decided to purchase a license with Vipre for their AV software. I ran a thorough scan with that as well and it found no infections. I feel confident this is just a software bug that will be fixed in the near future. I probably went "too far" in purchasing a license with a third party vendor, but the recent issues that Microsoft has been having with updates has made me feel less than confident.
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Anonymous
2020-03-12T20:33:44+00:00 I have paused Microsoft updates for a while because of the myriad of issues with the process. I still have the issue despite doing a System Restore back to last week. Each Defender scan still adds the exclusion message. I dont think Microsoft has dealt with this issue yet.
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Anonymous
2020-03-10T18:18:31+00:00 UPDATE: It appears this is a problem for multiple people, not just me. (Link goes to a Reddit post) That being said, it doesn't appear to be EVERYONE's problem, I checked another PC in my house and it doesn't have this issue.
FYI: I also encountered the very same problem as you when I ran a routine scan this morning after checking for updates. I have sent the following Feedback to Microsoft:
QUOTE:
"I manually run Windows Update and run Windows Defender quick scan on a daily basis and full scans less frequently. I have never added ANY (than means zero, none, nada, etc.) exclusions to Windows Defender! This morning, for the first time, this message appeared in my notifications window when the scan finished: "Windows Defender skipped an item due to exclusions or network protection settings." I have seen that several others have experienced the same problem today. Before I waste a BUNCH of precious time fruitlessly 'jumping through hoops" to solve a problem that doesn't exist, like I did with / before the Sept. 19, 2019 update bug was acknowledged, I am wondering if this might be attributable to the latest definition update, as nothing else other than Microsoft updates has been downloaded or changed on my system recently???? "