Windows Defender Bug, Microsoft Windows 10 Free Antivirus Malware Scan Fails

Windows Defender currently suffers a major bug as the antivirus that comes free with the Microsoft Windows 10 ship stops a few seconds after running a quick or full scan.

Microsoft faces another bug issue as the Windows Defender, the free antivirus software that ships with Windows 10 malfunctions without even completing a quick or full malware scan. The malware scan stops a few seconds after going through some files.

Reports that surfaced the internet through Microsoft tech support forums and various news outlets for two days now says that the Windows Defender scan that usually takes minutes to up to a few hours only went through a handful of files and stopped suddenly. Reports say that since the scan stops after only a few seconds, it creates superficial results.

Bug Fix Resulted to Another Bug

The Windows Defender bug came as a result of the bug fix that Microsoft did to July 2019 Patch Tuesday vulnerability. The problem turned out to affect the version 4.18.1908.7 of Windows Defender.

The said System File Checker bug fix actually came late of its originally announced date. Microsoft promised the patch to be released in August. However, the bug fix that came earlier this week resulted in another problem.

The July 2019 Patch Tuesday bug that Microsoft tried to solve with this big fix affected a command part of the Windows System File Checker utility that lets Windows users scan and fix corrupted files. The bug sends error messages alerting admins that some internal modules of Windows Defender are corrupted.

What Can Users Do

As of the moment, the safest way for Windows Defender users to do is to avoid using Full or Quick Scan. Instead, they can manually scan their folders one by one by selecting the “Custom Scan” option.

What Microsoft Has To Say

Microsoft released a statement assuring Windows Defender affected users that the company is working a fix on the issue. They added that the Windows 10 free antivirus will still detect malware upon reaching the users’ system.

The software giant made it clear that the bug does not affect the Windows Defender's real-time scanning protection. They further stated that the vulnerability only affects manual and scheduled scans.