Do you know how Windows perform a Windows Defender update on your computer? In this post, we will show you three methods including automatic update, triggering an update, and downloading & installing updates on your computer. If the automatic update is not available, the rest two methods can help you refresh the tool to protect your computer.

Windows Defender Antivirus is a Windows built-in antimalware product. It is pre-installed on your Windows computer. It always keeps up-to-date to cover the newest threats and modify the detection logic to improve its abilities to protect your computer from viruses. So, you’d better turn on Windows Defender Antivirus and make sure you are using the latest version.

How to update Windows Defender? Usually, Windows can automatically upgrade it when a new version is released. However, there are also some other Windows Defender update methods. MiniTool Software will show them in this post.

Automatic update Windows Defender

Usually, Windows Defender can automatically get its updates along with Windows updates. That is, you don’t need to update Windows Defender on purpose unless your Windows updates encounter issues or Windows Defender won’t update automatically.

However, if your Windows Defender encounters issues and won’t update, you can trigger an update or download the Windows Defender update for installation. Keep on reading to get these two methods.

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Trigger an Update for Windows Defender

If you suspect that you are not using the latest Windows Defender, you can manually trigger the update:

  1. Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection.
  2. If the message under Virus & threat protection updates shows that you are not using the latest Windows Defender, you can click the Check for updates link and then click the Check for updates button on the new pop-up interface to update Windows Defender.

click Check for updates

If you are an Enterprise administrator, you can also perform an update to devices in your network. You can use commands to clear the current cache and trigger a Windows Defender update:

  1. Run Command Prompt as an administrator.
  2. Run the following commands one by one:

cd %ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender

MpCmdRun.exe -removedefinitions –dynamicsignatures

MpCmdRun.exe -SignatureUpdate

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Manually Download Windows Defender and Install It

You can also manually download the Windows Defender update and then install it on your computer. You need to select the correct source to download based on the Windows operating system you are using.

Here are the Windows Defender download links for different OSs: Windows Defender Windows 10 download 64 bit | 32 bit | ARM.

Tip: See more information from this Microsoft official post: Security intelligence updates for Microsoft Defender Antivirus and other Microsoft antimalware.

If You Lose Your Data on Computer Due to Virus Attack

A virus or malware attack is an annoying issue. It may even make you lose your data. If these lost files are important to you, you can use a free file recovery tool to rescue them. You can try MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

This software is specially designed to recover your lost and deleted files from computer drives, memory cards, SD cards, and more. You can use the trial edition to scan the drive you want to recover data from to see whether it can find your needed files.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

If this software works to find your lost files, you can update it to a full edition and then recover all desired files to a suitable location.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery

Bottom Line

Now, you should know how to perform a Windows Defender update in different situations. You also get a useful data recovery program to recover your lost and deleted data. Should you have any related issues, you can let us know in the comment.

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