Steps in Creating a Bootable Version of Windows Defender

Viruses are everywhere and no matter how much we try to protect our computers from them, they would still find a way and infect files, corrupt them and worst is most of them would render files and other stuff permanently inaccessible. Depending on how you use your computer, viruses and other forms of malware leave varying effects. What do you do when these devils invade your machine? Most if not all would use antivirus programs but what if you are not connected to the Internet and the software requires you to access the database in order to complete the process of deleting the detected culprit?

Thankfully, Microsoft provides a way for Windows users to still scan, detect and delete viruses, spyware and malware using a bootable copy of Windows Defender saved in a USB memory stick which can be used offline. To know what this thing does and learn the steps in creating it using a USB memory, simply read on towards the end of this tutorial and be sure to follow the steps on your Windows machine.

What Exactly Does Windows Defender Offline Do?

There would be times that malicious software like rootkits and other malware would find their way into your computer’s file system and install themselves after you do your routine (browsing the Internet, downloading and installing programs etc). When installed on your machine, these tiny devils would run right then and there or even run automatically when you start a program making things a bit sluggish. Symptoms of viruses on your machine include missing or hidden files, corrupted files and folders, error messages, sluggish performance and as well as crashes, freezes and blue screens. When this things happen, it’s the perfect time to use Windows Defender Offline.

Since the Internet is a rich source of viruses and malware of all kinds, there would be instance that you need to disconnect from the Internet first before really doing a cleanup process and this is when Windows Defender Offline would be very useful. This tool scans and detects  threats on your system with the use of definitions. These definitions contain up-to-date descriptions of the latest threats and once the tool does its job, it looks on every file present in your computer and compares them to the definitions that are available. If a file matches one of the definitions, it is blocked and quarantined right away and once the tool is done scanning your system, it presents you a list of all the threats that were detected then you can decide what to do with them. The tool also displays a list of possible risks and as well as the risk level of each threat it is able to detect.

How to Install a Bootable Windows Defender on Your USB Memory Stick

First off, you need to secure a USB memory stick that has at least 250MB of storage space and check your operating system version if it is a 32-bit or 64 bit system. Once you have these stuff, it’s time to download Windows Defender Offline version. To get to the download page for this tool, simply “CLICK HERE”

At the bottom of the page, you will see two buttons labeled “Download the 32-bit version” and “Download the 64-bit version”. All you need to do is click on the one that matches your computer’s file system version and the download process will start.

Once the download completes, just browse to the location of the file which is usually in the “Downloads” folder then double click on it.

Then after doing so, the Windows Defender Offline tool wizard will start telling you a little bit of background about the tool. From here, simply click “Next”.

The next Window will then show the License Terms Agreement where you can choose to click either “I accept”, “I decline” and even “Print” the License Terms. If you want to proceed to the installation of the tool to your USB memory stick, simply click “I accept”.

The Window that follows will then ask you where you want to install Windows Defender offline version. There are three (3) available options. From this Window, all you need to do is click on the second option that says “On a USB flash drive that is not password protected”. If you want to save a copy on a blank CD or DVD, you can click on the first option. Another options is creating an ISO image on a disk which you can later on be installed or burned to a blank CD or DVD. Once you are done selecting the second option, just click the “Next” button at the bottom.

The next Window will then show a warning message that the process will delete all the files saved on the USB flash drive. If there are important files saved in it, you need to backup up everything first before you even use the storage device so you won’t lose any of your files. Once you are sure that the device is ready, simply hit the “Next” button.

After clicking “Next”, you’ll see another Window which will now initiate the copying and downloading of all the needed files to create the offline bootable version of Windows Defender. The Window will also show a progress bar so you can see the overall progress of the process.

There are four tasks that the wizard would have to go through to complete the creation of a bootable Windows Defender version. These tasks are as follows:

• Downloading files- Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, this process can take several minutes.
• Processing files- The step where the wizard prepares all files that needs to be written and copied to the USB flash drive.
• Formatting USB flash drive- On this step, the wizard prepares the device to become bootable. This process changes the device’s file system format in preparation for the process of creating a bootable USB flash.
• Adding files- The final step that the wizard would take. In this stage, the files will already be copied to the formatted hard drive. After the wizard completes this stage, you will see a Window that contains instructions on how to use the device. From here, all you need to do is click the “Finish” button and the wizard will close.

Now that you have the bootable version of Windows Defender, all that’s left to do is boot the infected Windows machine from it. Before you can do so, you need to change the “Boot Order” so that the machine will boot from the USB flash drive first. This is done by continuosly pressing the “F9” after you turn on the power button and before anything appears on the screen. Once the boot device order screen appears, simply scroll down using the arrow keys and select the USB storage device and hit “Enter”. Scanning the infected computer with Windows Defender offline version is very much the same as doing it from within Windows so you will not be having problems in executing any tasks. Once the process is done, you need to reboot the machine, change the boot order so it would boot from the hard drive first and you’re done!