Windows 10 comes with embedded antivirus software named Windows Defender. The antivirus usually always runs in the background and keeps scanning your computer. Occasionally you might have a file, software, that either will give a false positive on windows antivirus or perform slower than usual because Windows antivirus is always scanning the file/folder. You can add an exclusion in Windows 10 antivirus to exclude it from scanning the file or folder automatically so it may speed up the process.
Before you add an exclusion please be careful and make sure that the file/folder you are excluding is trustworthy. Otherwise, if you open a file that contains malware or ransomware can damage your data especially with ransomware you might not be able to get your files back without paying.
Adding Exclusions
To add an exclusion, follow these simple steps:
Click on Start Menu or the Search button at the bottom right corner of your screen.
Now type Windows Security and Click on it to open
You can also open the defender by clicking Start > Setting > Update & Security > Windows Security > Open Windows Security.
Now click on Virus & Threat Protection & select Manage settings under Virus & threat protection settings.
Now Scroll Down to find Exclusions and click Add or Remove Exclusions.
The next step is to select Add an Exclusion, here you will see four options “File, Folder, File Type & Folder” You can use any of these options to add an exclusion.
- In the File option you select a single file e.g a .exe file that gives a false positive.
- In the Folder option, you can exclude a whole folder from scanning.
- If you select File type option this can be risky because if you select a file type e.g. exe it will exclude all the exe files that exist in your computer which can be risky because a malware file can easily enter the system.
- A Process is where you add processes which are already running e.g. chrome.exe, explorer.exe
Now click on your desired type of exclusion e.g. folder. So, select the folder you want to exclude and click Select Folder option
Now an exclusion in windows 10 antivirus has been successfully added and windows antivirus will not scan your selected exclusion.
However, if you want to remove this exclusion you can always remove the exclusion by selecting the exclusion & selecting Remove in the exclusions tab to remove it.
