If you surf the web on a regular basis then you are putting your computer at potential risk
. Today there are many ways that your computer can be infected in a number of different ways. For example, a common annoyance is spyware. With Windows Defender you can run a scan to detect it any spyware that has infected your computer.
To run a scan on Windows Defender use the following steps:
Step 1
Begin by pressing the Start button All Programs Windows Defender.
Step 2
The Windows Defender window will appear on your screen. On the tip of the window you will see the Scan button. Click on the arrow beside the button. This will bring up a drop down menu with the following three options:
Quick Scan: This is the quickest scan option as it automatically selects those areas on your computer that are most likely to be infected by spyware.
Full Scan: For a more thorough scan this is the option to use. With this option Windows Defender will scan every file and folder and document of your computer system. The full scan can take a while depending on the amount of files on your computer that it has to scan. You may also find that it can slow your computer down when the scan is in progress. Therefore, it is more practical if you run a scan when you are using the computer.
Custom Scan: With this scan you can customise or choose what specific files or directories that you want scanned. If you know where a spyware file is hiding then you can run a custom scan in that particular location and this can save you a lot of time compared to running a full scan.
Step 3
When you select the Custom Scan option a dialog box will appear on your screen and you can select the drives that you want to scan. Within each drive you select you can then select the specific files and folders that you want Windows Defender to scan. When you have selected the required files you can press the Scan Now button to get things started. If you chose the Quick scan or Full scan option you do not have to go through this procedure as both scans will start automatically.
Step 4
A info box will appear on the screen when the scan is finished. It will provide an update of what spyware files that have been detected and removed. You can now close Windows Defender.