Windows Defender Updates Question

[Litsman3d]

Hello all there! Ive been using windows defender for around three years. All that time i remember it was updating sparingly. :huh: Then i noticed the last 2 - 3 months there is a new definitions update every single day which "costs" at least 10MB (sometimes up to 30MB) of hard disk space! It sums like at least half a Gig already... that will be 4GB/year! Whats going on with those definitions?? So much bad stuff for win7? :sarc: Is that normal?

 

[Paul Black]

Hi Litsman3d,

Welcome to SevenForums!

Windows Defender is only an anti-spyware solution in Windows 7. It didn't became an AV program until Windows 8 when Microsoft embedded it with the OS and enabled it by default for all users.

Have you got an AV installed?

I hope this helps!

 

[Litsman3d]

Thanks for your reply! Im really sorry, my mistake... I mean Microsoft Security Essentials. So whats up with those big daily updates?

 

[winnie87]

This update is on-going updates from Microsoft Windows Defender.

If you want to stop or disable those update then follow this guide How to permanently disable Windows Defender on Windows 10 | Windows Central

 

[Alejandro85]

It's not rare at all to see big and quite frequent updates in many antiviruses programs, be it MSE or whatever else.
Every time a new malware is found, a new definition is created and shipped though the virus database updates. As viruses are created by the thousands per day, it's understandable how those updates add up pretty quickly. That's an inevitable consequence of using an antivirus, the neverending stream of updates to its databases, which is required to prevent being a completely useless thing.
The pace is something variable too. Some times you'll see many new definitions added, others a few ones. It all depends how much things the security "experts" discover and catalogate new infections.

Basically updating an antivirus is an arms race: a new virus is discovered, a new definition is created and shipped to all users, and so on. As you can see, the antivirus vendor ALWAYS will be the losing side. How fast do they appear and how fast the AVs adapt depends on the situation.
But I'll say that what you're seeing is pretty much the standard, give or take.

If you're worried about such updates, it could be one more reason to begin thinking about real security and fnially ditch antiviruses, though.