Windows Defender is the free antivirus that is included in Windows 10. This is the first layer of security that we find in the Microsoft operating system. As time has gone by, this antivirus has become one of the best we can use to protect Windows 10. This security software has a large number of security options so that more advanced users can fully customize their protection. And also, it is configured by default in a secure way so that, if we do not have advanced knowledge, or we do not want to complicate ourselves, we do not have to do anything.
Windows Defender has undoubtedly been one of the best new features of Windows 10. However, despite being well configured as standard, its configuration options are not exactly intuitive. Within the configuration of this antivirus we can find many nooks and crannies with options. Some of them even confusing and complicated to understand. Without taking into account those that, to edit them, we need to modify the Windows registry or access the user policies of the operating system.
Luckily, there are programs that allow us to easily configure all the parameters of this antivirus. And one of the most popular, and best supported, is ConfigureDefender.
What ConfigureDefender gives us
ConfigureDefender is a simple free program designed to allow us to fully configure all the options offered by the free antivirus included by default in Windows 10. That is, Windows Defender, or Microsoft Defender .
This program allows us to have at hand all the configuration options that we can find for this antivirus. To configure the antivirus, what you do is access the registry, the group policies , or run cmdlets in PowerShell to change the values that are configured by default in our system.
The program, which can be run portable, that is, without installing anything, will read the current configuration that we have on our computer and show it to us in its main window. From it we will have access to all these options, and we can modify them according to how we want the antivirus to protect us.
In addition to having access to all the options of Windows Defender, we will also be able to find 3 predefined levels of protection that will help us to configure security more easily:
- Default: it will apply the default values of Windows Defender, placing the antivirus as it comes by default when installing Windows 10. All the changes in the configuration can be reverted from the antivirus interface, without major changes.
- High – Improves network protection and most exploit protection module options. Some options of the Exploit Guard, and protection against ransomware, are disabled to avoid false positives. It is the recommended level for most users.
- Max: Configure Windows Defender to offer maximum protection. This level enables all the security options of this antivirus, and also hides its interface to prevent you from changing the settings by mistake. This level of protection can generate more false positives than the high level. But security is significantly higher.
In addition to the levels of protection that this program offers us, we will also be able to find in its interface a series of very interesting options that we can modify independently:
- Enable or disable cloud-based protection.
- Time limit for consulting in the cloud.
- Control the downloaded files and attachments that we send by mail.
- Activate protection against potentially unwanted applications.
- Limit the maximum CPU usage.
- Enable or disable SmartScreen.
- Control protection against exploits. And activate or deactivate each of the modules individually.
- Enable control of network drives.
- Enable or disable folder access control (protection against ransomware).
When we make the changes that we want in the configuration, we will only have to click on the “Refresh” button and let the program apply the changes in the antivirus. Every time we make changes to the Windows Defender configuration it is recommended to restart the computer for the new configuration to take effect.
As all the changes are made officially (that is, without replacing files or being too aggressive), we are not in danger of damaging Windows or having long-term problems, for example, with updates.
Negative points of the program
The truth is that ConfigureDefender is a configuration tool that should come installed in Windows 10, or at least be part of Microsoft’s PowerToys . Thanks to it, the configuration of Windows Defender is taken to a new level, having much more exhaustive control over the antivirus than we have from its main interface.
However, it has many aspects to improve. The first of them, and surely one of the ones users miss the most, is that it does not allow us to disable Windows Defender. We can configure the operation of the antivirus, but not completely disable it from the PC. This requires using other software, such as Defender Control .
We also lack a little more order in all the program’s options, as well as descriptions about each element to know exactly what it does, what it doesn’t do and how it affects the performance or security of Defender. The ability to back up the settings might also be nice, useful for trying out combinations of options or sharing them with others.
Download ConfigureDefender
This program is completely free for all Windows 10 users. We can download it free of charge from the following link . Of course, we must bear in mind that, although we find it hosted on GitHub, the program is not open source, since the source code is not found here, but we will directly find the already compiled .exe.
The program is portable, so, once downloaded, we will only have to unzip it in a folder to be able to use it. When we already have Windows Defender configured, and we don’t want to use it anymore, we can easily erase it without leaving a trace on the PC.