Windows Defender is a solid top-notch antivirus on Windows 10. I’m glad that finally Microsoft has brought a feature-rich and secure antivirus for Windows 10 that isn’t a resource-hog. It also comes with lots of features which can be helpful for the users. One of the best features of Windows Defender (now called Windows Security) is that you can add exclusions for files and folders and the antivirus won’t scan those items. It’s great, right? This will significantly improve your PC performance and free up resources for other tasks. So, without further ado, let’s go ahead and learn how to exclude files and folders from Windows Defender.
Exclude files and folders from Windows Defender
1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard once and type and “ Security“. Now open Windows Security from the top result.
2. Here, move to the “ Protection against viruses and threatsand click on “Manage Settings”.
3. Now scroll down and you will find a section called “ Exclusions“. From here you can add any file or folder and Windows Defender will exclude them from scanning. To continue, click on “Add or remove exclusions”.
4. Simply click on “Add an exclusion and choose what you want to exclude from Windows Defender.
- To file: allows you to exclude a specific file, whether it is a document file or a development tool.
- Case: you can add an entire folder and it will not be scanned.
- File type: Then there is “File Type” where you can mention the file extension like EXE or PDF and these file types will not be scanned.
- To treat: Finally, there is “Process” where you can add background tasks and processes and they will not be scanned.
5. Here, for example, I am choose a folder and it will not be scanned from Windows Defender. Once done, Windows will ask you to confirm your action. Click “Yes”.
6. Now you have successfully excluded a folder from Windows Defender. From now on the folder will not be scanned by Windows Defender.
7. If you want to remove the exclusion, just click on the entry and click on ” To delete“. That’s it.
Speed up your PC with Windows Defender exclusions
This is how you can add exclusions to Windows Defender and make your PC much faster to use. As we all know, Windows keeps scanning files, folders and various other things in the background which slows down the PC. If you’re working on a large document or compiling code, Windows Defender can slow down performance.
So go ahead and add the exclusions as per your wish. If you want to permanently disable Windows Defender, follow our detailed guide. Also, for more Windows 10 tips and tricks, check out our linked guide.
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