Does Windows Defender detect malware?

Yes, Windows Defender is designed to detect and remove malware from your computer. It is designed to detect viruses, spyware, ransomware, rootkits and other malicious software that may be trying to infect your computer.

Windows Defender is an anti-malware program from Microsoft that is included in Windows 10 and earlier versions of Windows. It uses a combination of signature-based and heuristic-based detection methods to identify and block malicious software.

Windows Defender includes the following features to help protect your computer from malware:

•Real-time protection: This feature monitors your computer for any malicious activity, and blocks or removes it as soon as it is detected.

•Proactive protection: This feature looks for suspicious activity that may indicate malware is present and takes action immediately to protect against it.

•Behavioral security: This feature uses advanced analytics to detect suspicious behavior by unknown applications, and takes action if they are identified as malicious.

•Vulnerability assessment: This feature scans your system to look for vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malware and takes action to protect you from them.

•Cloud-based protection: This feature uses cloud-based intelligence to help protect against new malicious programs that are not yet known.

Windows Defender is designed to protect your computer from malware, but it is not perfect and cannot detect every malicious program. This is why it is important to use additional layers of defense such as anti-virus software and a strong firewall. Additionally, it’s important to keep your operating system and software up to date to reduce the risk of being infected with new threats.

In order to ensure your computer is protected from the latest threats, it is important to regularly scan your computer with Windows Defender. You can do this by clicking on the “Scan now” button in the Windows Defender Security Center. If any suspicious activities or threats are found, Windows Defender will take action to protect your computer.

Overall, Windows Defender is designed to detect and remove malware, but it cannot detect all malicious programs. It is important to use it in conjunction with other security measures such as anti-virus software and firewalls to provide the best protection possible.