Activate this option in Windows Defender if you want to be protected

Viruses and computer attacks have always been one of the problems that have brought Windows users the most headaches. And, although Microsoft tried to strengthen security on several occasions with its own antivirus, it was not until the arrival of Windows Defender that it was finally able to protect users from this problem. And, although this has become one of the best antivirus that we can install, by activating a simple option it is possible to significantly improve the security of the system.

Windows Defender is not only capable of protecting us from viruses that can reach our PC through the Internet, but it also has advanced protection functions that allow us to shield the security of our system in a much more effective way. And one of them is the memory integrity function.

Activate this option in Windows Defender if you want to be protected

How memory integrity works

This feature, also known as Hypervisor Protected Code Integrity (HVCI) , focuses on ensuring that all drivers running on our system are properly signed, and secure, to prevent malicious programs from taking control of them. to hijack the computer.

To do this, this feature makes use of the Microsoft hypervisor to create a kind of isolated environment using hardware virtualization where these drivers are loaded. In this way, if a program wants to execute a piece of code that could be dangerous for the user, it will have to pass memory integrity checks in order to be executed. If the system detects the slightest suspicion, the program in question will be blocked. And, if any driver is not compatible with this function, it will be blocked from starting the computer.

Activate in Windows Defender

The problem is that this feature is disabled by default. And most users are unaware of it, since Microsoft’s antivirus doesn’t talk about it at any time. Starting with Windows 11 22H2 , users will see a warning in their antivirus when this feature is disabled, but until then, it’s up to us to get it up and running.

To do this, what we must do is open Windows Defender and go to the ” Device Security> Core isolation ” section. Here we will have to enter the configuration of this option from the “Details of kernel isolation” section.

Windows Defender Aislamiento Núcleo 1

In the new section that we will see, the only thing we will have to do is activate the switch that appears, which will be deactivated by default. And nothing more.

Windows Defender Aislamiento Núcleo 2

Once activated, we will have to restart the computer for the changes to take effect, and that’s it. When Windows starts up again it will be much safer. We will already be protected against the attacks that we have explained and that can put our security in check.

If you can’t turn this option on, you most likely have an incompatible driver loaded on your system. We will have to manually uninstall it before we can re-enable this feature in Windows antivirus so we can turn on kernel isolation and be safe.