Command line switches

[Guest]

I'm looking for command line switches to control Windows Defender. I found
one reference online for the following switch -UpdateAndQuickScan. I tried
it and it seemed to work 'MSASCUI.EXE -UpdateAndQuickScan'. ( I used a
modified msi to install Windows Defender without starting it; I then ran
msiexec to remove the definitions key just in case of the definition update
error; and ran the above command line which seemed to force the update and
scan.) I also tried -Hide which seems to hide even the tray icon. Does
anyone know if these are in fact valid switches and/or of any others that can
be used to incorporate command line syntax into scripts.

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

Interesting--I haven't seen this before.

One of the three executables involved, mpcmdrun.exe is explicitly a
command-line app, with switches discoverable by simply running it. It can
be used to update definitions or scan. Just run it to see the syntax and
arguments.

I've been trying your UpdateAndQuickScan, and can't seem to make it work,
but then msascui is already resident on my system.

I'd focus on mpcmdrun.exe if you want command-line stuff--but it might be of
interest to the developers to know what kind of functionality you'd like to
see.