Important: The National Public Data breach exposed personal information, including names, addresses, and social security numbers. Learn how to protect yourself and how Microsoft Defender is helping to prevent fraud. See: National Public Data breach: What you need to know.
You can start a scan for malware any time you like.
Note: Microsoft Defender currently offers anti-malware on Windows, Android, and macOS.
From the Microsoft Defender dashboard
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Select Device details
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Select Manage in Windows Security
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Select Quick scan
Tips:
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If you want a deeper scan, instead of selecting Quick scan in step 3, select Scan options and choose the type of scan you want.
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For the most complete scan, run Microsoft Defender Offline. For more about that see Help protect my PC with Microsoft Defender Offline.
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From the Microsoft Defender dashboard
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Tap Device details to go to the Device protection screen
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Tap Malware protection
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Tap the Scan button
From the Microsoft Defender dashboard
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Select Device details
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Select Start scan
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Select the type of scan you want to run, then Start scan.
When the scan completes, Defender will tell you if it found anything.
When would I want to run a scan?
If you suspect your device may be infected, or if you want to confirm that a previous infection appears to be cleaned, you should have Defender start a scan.
Signs that your device might have malware include:
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Suddenly running much slower than usual
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Significant decrease in battery life
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An unexpected increase in data usage
Any of those symptoms may indicate that an unknown process is running in the background and consuming your device resources.
Other clues include:
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Unexpected ads or pop-ups
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Getting redirected to totally different sites when trying to browse the web
