How to Add “Scan with Windows Defender” Option in File Context Menu in Windows 8?

Microsoft’s new OS Windows 8 comes with “Windows Defender” preinstalled which is an anti-malware utility to improve your computer security. Windows Defender is a free product released by Microsoft in past which has been now replaced by another advanced tool “Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE)”. Microsoft Security Essentials can also be downloaded separately for other Windows versions using following link:

Download Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) for Windows

Windows Defender in Windows 8 has all features of MSE so most of the times you’ll not need to install any other security software in your system. But it lacks one important feature which is an option to direct scan a file using Windows Defender.

Almost all security software add a new option in files/folders context menu (right-click menu) to allow you to scan those files/folders for virus quickly and easily. You just need to right-click on desired file and select the option to scan the file using your security software.

But Windows Defender doesn’t add any such option in files context menu. Whenever you need to scan a file for virus, you have to launch Windows Defender and then you can select the file using browse dialog box. It requires lots of steps and many times it becomes quite frustrating.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could manually add such option in files context menu? Whenever you want to scan a file using Windows Defender, just right-click on the file and choose the scan option.

Today in this topic, we are going to share a free software to solve this issue. “Windows Defender Status Manager” is a freeware which automatically adds a new option “Scan with Windows Defender” in all files context menu. It also shows a new icon in Taskbar notification area (system tray) to show the current status of Windows Defender whether the program is working fine or not.

You just need to run the setup of the program and it’ll ask you whether you want to add the option in context menu? Just click on yes button and complete the installation. Once the installation completes, it’ll add the Windows Defender status icon in system tray and a new option “Scan with Windows Defender” in all files context menu.

Its a very useful software for those who want to use the built-in security program in Windows 8 and don’t want to install any extra 3rd party antivirus or anti-spyware software. With the help of this small software you can make Windows Defender a perfect security program.

Interested people can download it using following link:

Download Windows Defender Status Manager for Windows 8 (link removed)

It supports both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 8.

UPDATE: It seems the developer has removed the above mentioned software from his website. If you don’t want to use any extra software to add “Scan with Windows Defender” option in files context menu, you can take help of following ready-made Registry script. Download following ZIP file, extract it and you’ll get an REG file. Run it and it’ll ask for confirmation, accept it:

Download Registry Script to Add Scan with Windows Defender Option in Context Menu

That’s it. It’ll add a new option to scan the file with Windows Defender in all files context menu similar to the above mentioned software.