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Microsoft Security | Microsoft Defender | Other
Additional Microsoft Defender tools and services that provide security across various platforms and environments
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Yep, but this depends on how you configure the Windows Task Scheduler trigger. If you create a task with a 4:00 AM daily trigger and your PC is powered off or asleep at 4:00 AM, Windows does not automatically assume the task should run at 8:00 AM. However, Task Scheduler has a specific setting called “Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed”. If you enable this option, Windows will detect that the 4:00 AM trigger was missed and, when the PC becomes available at 8:00 AM, it will start the scan shortly afterward.
In Task Scheduler, this setting is found under the task's Properties → Settings tab. Enable “Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed.” You can also configure “Wake the computer to run this task” under the Conditions tab if the PC is asleep rather than completely powered off. If the computer is completely shut down at 4:00 AM, however, the wake option cannot start it unless you have configured hardware/firmware features such as a BIOS/UEFI scheduled wake.
If you're using Microsoft Defender's PowerShell Start-MpScan, for example, you could create a scheduled task that runs at 4:00 AM and executes something such as Start-MpScan -ScanType QuickScan. With the missed-start option enabled, if the computer is turned off at 4:00 AM and you turn it on at 8:00 AM, the scheduled task can run the scan after startup. Without that option, the 4:00 AM occurrence is simply missed and the next scheduled occurrence would normally be the following day.
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hth
Marcin