Again, it won’t catch viruses, just spyware. You can use Windows Defender Offline to scan for viruses before the operating system boots up, which can greatly help your chances of removing a very sneaky piece of malware or spyware. Windows Defender Offline is basically exactly what the name suggests: an offline version of Windows Defender that you download and run off a CD, DVD or USB drive. Once installed, it would disable Windows Defender altogether. Microsoft Security Essentials could be downloaded to replace Windows Defender since it could catch spyware and scan for viruses.

That’s why you always needed another separate anti-virus program in Windows 7 and earlier. The main thing to note about Windows Defender is that it only protects against spyware in Windows 7 and below. You can still download Windows Defender Offline, which is different than Windows Defender and I’ll explain more below. You could also download Windows Defender for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, though it seems that now you can’t anymore.

Windows Defender was originally known as Microsoft AntiSpyware and was eventually included with Windows Vista and Windows 7. Thankfully, things are clearer in Windows 10. In this article, I’ll explain the differences between the different anti-virus tools in Windows 7 and Windows 8 and where you can use each tool.

Safety scanner microsoft windows