

Or you clicked a suspicious link online or in an email message.Īnd this is for Windows Defender in Vista and Windows 7: However, you can use it anytime to scan for malware if your computer isn’t working properly Windows Defender runs in the background and notifies you when you need to take specific action. In Windows 8, Windows Defender replaces Microsoft Security Essentials. Here are the links explaing the difference:

It is a pity Microsoft still kept the name Windows Defender for use in Windows 8 it does cause a lot of confusion.
