Windows Defender Run in Background?

  • Thread starter Thread starter bluesky18
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bluesky18

In Win/XP, does Windows Defender:

1. Have to be "active" to perform its protection function, or does it
continue to perform its protection function 'in the background' even when the
WD application window is closed (absent from task bar/system tray, not just
minimized)?

2. Have to be "active" to perform scheduled scans, or will scheduled scans
happen automatically even when the WD application closed (absent from task
bar/system tray, not just minimized)?
 
The way I check to see if Defender is running is to open Task Manager
(Ctrl+Alt+Del) and look for these two processes:
MSASCui.exe
MsMpEng.exe
I then look in System Services for the Windows Defender Service to be in
Started Status. If all three of these items are found, it's pretty certain
that Defender is operational.

Perhaps you have don't have "Always" show the icon in the notification area
checked in the WD > Tools > Options settings... scroll down to see that
option.
 
Agreed.

If you have set the Windows Defender icon to be absent unless user input is
needed, it is still running. If you have set the Windows Defender icon to
be always present, but it is not visible, perhaps due to a bug in Windows
XP, it is still running (check the items Dave M lists!) and still providing
protection.

One way to test this is to use the Eicar test string.
 
bluesky18 said:
In Win/XP, does Windows Defender:

1. Have to be "active" to perform its protection function, or does it
continue to perform its protection function 'in the background' even when the
WD application window is closed (absent from task bar/system tray, not just
minimized)?
Click to expand...

Whether a application is foreground or background, it is still active.
If it is running, it is active. It doesn't need to show YOU a window
for it to do something. The vast majority of Windows isn't presented to
you but it is still active.

Every program MUST be running for it do so "something". If it isn't
running, it can't do anything. Windows can't do anything unless it is
running. Services can't do anything if they aren't running. A word
editor can't do anything unless it is running. Antivirus software can't
do anything if it isn't running. If the program isn't loaded into
memory, it can't do anything.
2. Have to be "active" to perform scheduled scans, or will scheduled scans
happen automatically even when the WD application closed (absent from task
bar/system tray, not just minimized)?
Click to expand...

Again you confuse active with foreground/background. If WD is running
whether foreground or background, it is still active. If it is active,
it runs the scheduled task. Only until YOU choose to *exit* WD so it is
no longer active will the scheduled task not run (because the
application is no longer running).

If a program isn't running, it can't do anything. WD does *not* add
scheduled events to the Scheduled Tasks (Windows' task scheduler) but
even that MUST be running to actually run the scheduled events and when
it runs a scheduled event then it loads the program so it can do
something.

If WD is running, it protects (as best as it has been coded to handle).
If WD is running, its scheduled events will run.
If WD is not running, neither protection or scheduling is available.
 
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