Add Windows Defender to Right Click Menu in Windows Explorer – How to Guide for Windows 8

windows 8windows-defenderwindows-explorer

There is no option in Windows Explorer to scan a particular drive (or file) on demand by right clicking on it in Windows Explorer as we had in Windows 7 with Microsoft Security Essentials or like other antivirus solutions.

I know we can run a custom scan for the particular drive or specific folder but that process is too lengthy and time consuming. The guide How to Add a "Windows Defender" Cascading Desktop Context Menu in Windows 8 explains how we can add Windows Defender in the desktop right click menu, so I'm curious, is there a way to add it in the Windows Explorer right click menu to launch a search whenever I need to?

Best Answer

Avirk's answer actually doesn't scan a file or folder directly, it just initiates a quick or full scan of your entire computer.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/add-scan-with-windows-defender-option-context-menu-windows-8 outlines a method to get the scan to work on folders. I think with some modifications it can be made to work on files as well.

UPDATE:
It is fairly easy to get this to work on files, just change the /folder/ part of the registry keys to /*/. 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\WindowsDefender]
"MUIVerb"="Scan With Windows Defender"
"Icon"="%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Defender\\EppManifest.dll"
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\WindowsDefender\Command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Windows Defender\\MpCmdRun.exe\" -scan -scantype 3 -SignatureUpdate -file %1"

(Just paste the above in a file with extension.reg and merge it into the registry by double-clicking the file.)

The one thing I can't get working is bringing up the GUI scan versus a console version of the scan output.

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