Windows Quick Scan is a great feature of Microsoft Defender that allows you to quickly and easily scan your computer for any malware or other security threats. However, sometimes it can stop working for no apparent reason. If this happens to you, don’t worry – we’re here to help!
In this blog post, we will show you how to fix Windows Quick Scan so that you can start using it again as quickly and easily as possible.
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Why is Windows Quick Scan not Working?
There can be a number of reasons why Windows Quick Scan might not be working properly on your computer:
- Feature Disabled by Third-Party Security Program: The most common reason is that the feature has been disabled by third-party security software. This is usually done to prevent any potential conflicts between the two programs.
- Administrator Disabled the Feature: Another possibility is that the Quick Scan feature has been turned off by your administrator.
- Feature disabled by Malware: A dangerous malware might have taken your system and modified the system files and disabled the Quick Scan.
- Corrupted Windows Defender files: This is another common reason why the Windows Defender Quick Scan feature stops working. If the files that are responsible for running this feature are corrupted, then it will not work properly.
How to fix Windows Quick Scan Not Working?
Now that you know some of the possible reasons why Windows Quick Scan might not be working, let’s take a look at how to fix it.
Sign in With your Administrator Account
If you don’t have administrator privileges, you might not be able to run Windows Defender Quick Scan. In order to fix this, you will need to contact your system administrator and ask for permission to run Windows Defender. Or if you have administrator credentials, just use them and sign in with the Administrator account.
Restart Windows Defender Service
If the Windows Defender Service is stopped or disabled, Windows Defender will not be able to run Quick Scan. To fix this, you will need to open the services console and restart the Windows Defender Service.
Here is how to start the Windows Defender Service:
- Open the Start menu and type “services.msc” into the search bar and click on its icon to launch.
- Find the “Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Service” in the list and double-click on it to open its properties.
- In the “Startup type” dropdown menu, select “Automatic“.
- Click on the “Start” button to start the service.
- Click on “OK” to save the changes.
- Restart your computer.
Fix corrupted files with the DISM tool
The first method you can try is to use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool to repair the corrupted files that are responsible for running the Windows Defender Quick Scan feature.
To do this, you need to open the Command Prompt with admin privileges and run the following command:
- Open Command Prompt with admin rights.
- Type the following command and press the enter key: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
- The scan would take some time to finish.
- After the scan is completed, restart the device.
Use SFC Command
SFC scan is a command-line tool that scans your system for any errors and glitches and automatically repairs them. If you are still struggling with Windows Defender Quick Scan not working issue, you can try the SFC scan.
Here are the steps for that:
- From the Windows search bar, search and launch the Command Prompt with administrator rights.
- Type this command and hit the Enter key: sfc/scannow.
- The scanning would start, and it would take some time to complete depending on your system configuration.
- After the scan, if it found any problem, the solution would be automatically applied.
- Close the Command Prompt window and restart your system.
Disable/Uninstall Third-party Security Program
If you have a third-party security program installed, it could be interfering with Windows Defender. To fix this, you will need to disable or uninstall the program.
Here is how to uninstall a third-party security program:
- Open the Control Panel.
- Click on “Uninstall a program” or “Add/Remove Programs“.
- Find the security program in the list and click “Uninstall“.
- Follow the prompts to uninstall the program.
- Restart your computer.
Summing Up
If you don’t have any other security program on your system, the Windows Quick Scan feature is essential for security. So, if it stops working, you need to fix it as soon as possible.
We hope that this blog post has been helpful and that you were able to fix the Quick Scan feature on your computer. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us and we will be more than happy to help.
Windows Quick Scan is a great feature that allows you to quickly and easily scan your computer for any malware or other security threats.
There can be a number of reasons why the Quick Scan feature might not be working properly on your computer. The most common reasons are that the feature has been disabled by a third-party security program or by your administrator, or that the files responsible for running the Quick Scan are corrupted.
Peter is an Electrical Engineer whose primary interest is tinkering with his computer. He is passionate about Windows 10 Platform and enjoys writing tips and tutorials about it.
