Windows 10 Windows Defender Error - Skipping files during scanning

Buzz

With billions of Windows 10 users relying on the built-in tool Windows Defender to safeguard their data, Windows Defender generally performs well in detecting malware. However, this antivirus software is sometimes affected by errors, and recently users have reported an issue of skipping files during the scanning process.

In recent weeks, many Windows 10 users have reported that Windows Defender is skipping files due to either a configured exclusion or a network scan setting. Users say that when they receive these notifications, no exclusions are configured in the Windows Defender options.

Detecting Windows Defender Error on Windows 10

Even when conducting quick or full scans with Windows Defender, notifications from the Windows 10 Action Center will indicate items skipped during the scanning process with the following message:

In a conversation with Günter Born, the first person to report the Windows Defender bug at BornCity, he stated that 80% of his German readers confirmed encountering this behavior, while the remaining 20% did not receive that notification.

It's unclear when this issue began, but according to various reports, it started around March 10, 2020, coinciding with the release date of the March Patch Tuesday update.

The strange thing is that this issue is being reported across different Antimalware Client versions and does not affect everyone running the same engine version. For instance, the problem occurs in engine version 4.18.2003.6. Others report it also occurring in version 4.18.2003.6-1.

Antimalware Client Version: 4.18.2003.6
Engine Version: 1.1.16800.2
Antivirus Version: 1.311.1767.0
Antispyware Version: 1.311.1767.0

To ensure there are absolutely no hidden exclusions or suspicious network configurations, use the following command to access Windows Defender preferences.

Get-MpPreference | findstr /i 'net exc'

As shown in the image below, we can see that no exclusions are configured and network settings are configured according to the default options.

Microsoft has yet to acknowledge any issues with Windows Defender, but it seems that this offline scanning feature is currently operational without causing any disruptions.

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