Windows Defender is a built-in antivirus program for the Windows computers developed by Microsoft. The Windows Defender antivirus is able to perform various operations, including email scanning, which enables you to scan emails used by Outlook and other email clients installed on your Windows computer. Using Defender email scanning, you can perform on-demand and scheduled scans. The file format types such as DBX, MBX, MIME, and PST are also scanned for virus threats. If you are looking for the quick steps to enable Windows Defender email scanning, keep reading the instructions below.
Using the Group Policy Editor:
- On your Windows computer, close all the running programs before you enable Windows email scanning.
- Click the Start menu available at the bottom-left corner and type ‘group policy’ in the search panel.
- Press the Enter key and double-click the Edit group policy tab from the top of the search results. This will open the Group Policy Editor on your computer.
- Alternatively, open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows + R shortcut keys and type ‘gpedict.msc’ in the text field. Click OK in the Run dialog box to launch the Group Policy Editor.
- In the Group Policy Editor window, navigate to Computer configuration Administrative templates.
- Next, expand Windows Components and select Microsoft Windows Antivirus from the displayed list.
- Click on Scan a Turn on email scanning.
- Double-click the required policy setting and select the Enabled option to allow your computer to use the Windows email scanning function.
- You can also enable defender email scanning using PowerShell. To do so, launch PowerShell with administrator rights and press the Enter key after entering the following command.