We are aware of the risk of excluding the specific files or folders that are mentioned in this article from scans that are made by your antivirus software. Your system will be safer if you don't exclude any files or folders from scans.

Find out what to do if your game crashes because of your antivirus software on Windows 10.

If you just want to exclude a single file or folder from antivirus scanning, you can do that by adding an exclusion. This is safer than turning the entire antivirus protection off

These folders may have to be excluded from antivirus scanning when you use file-level antivirus software in SharePoint. If these folders are not excluded, you may see unexpected behavior. For example, you may receive "access denied" error messages when files are uploaded.

To add an exclusion in Microsoft Defender Antivirus: Select Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Windows Security. Open Windows Security Select Virus & threat protection. Under Virus & threat protection settings, select Manage settings. Scroll to Exclusions and select Add or remove exclusions.

Windows Security has reputation-based protection that can help protect your PC from potentially unwanted applications. Potentially unwanted app blocking was first introduced in the Windows 10 May 2020 update and is turned off by default for enterprise and consumer customers.

Go to the Virus & threat protection > Virus & threat protection settings > Add or remove exclusions. Select Add an exclusion and follow the steps to set up an exclusion for a file, folder, file type or process.

The Protection History page in the Windows Security app is where you can go to view actions that Microsoft Defender Antivirus has taken on your behalf, Potentially Unwanted Apps that have been removed, or key services that are turned off.

Lists articles and websites that identify files and directories that should be excluded from malware scanning in Microsoft Forefront Client Security, Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 and Microsoft System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection.

In the Windows Security app on your PC, select App & browser control, or use the following shortcut: App & browser control. Smart App Control adds significant protection from new and emerging threats by blocking apps that are malicious or untrusted.