Before logging in you should be Scan for malware in Windows 10

Microsoft has launched an ‘offline’ version of Windows Defender that lets you scan for viruses in Windows 10 before logging in.

The 15-minute scan, which restarts your PC, is designed to prevent malware from running when you boot your PC.

It should improve the overall effectiveness of Windows Defender, which has performed poorly in security tests over the past few years - coming bottom in almost all of them.

Most security experts agree that you can’t rely on Windows Defender alone, and recommend using a third-party program from companies such as Kaspersky and Symantec

To use the new tool, called Windows Defender Offline (see screenshot), you need to be signed up to the ‘Fast Ring’ of the Windows 10 Insider Program (https://insider. windows.com). This is a scheme that allows confident users of Windows 10 to test features that may be unstable or flawed.

Microsoft relies on the feedback of Windows 10 Insiders to improve tools before making them available to everyone.

Windows Defender Offline appeared in Build 14271 of Windows 10 at the end of February. It is expected to be added to the full version in the ‘Redstone’ update, scheduled for June. It’s not an entirely new feature, though. It first appeared in 2011 as a downloadable tool that you had to install on a CD, DVD or USB stick. Microsoft explains how to do this at www. snipca.com/19872. Until now, it wasn’t clear whether the program would appear in Windows 10.

Microsoft revealed other fixes and features in Build 14271 in its blog (www.snipca. com/19873). These include a fix for the taskbar appearing “unexpectedly on top of full screen windows”, and some apps not appearing in the Start menu

• We’ll show you how to sign up to the Insider Program and use Windows Defender Offline in our next issue - out Wednesday 30 March.