Check for the latest virus and spyware security intelligence before running a scheduled scan

Policy ID
CheckForSignaturesBeforeRunningScan
Scope
Computer Configuration
Supported on
At least Windows Vista
Source
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
Category
Windows Components › Microsoft Defender Antivirus › Scan

Description

This policy setting allows you to manage whether a check for new virus and spyware security intelligence will occur before running a scan.

This setting applies to scheduled scans, but it has no effect on scans initiated manually from the user interface or to the ones started from the command line using "mpcmdrun -Scan".

If you enable this setting, a check for new security intelligence will occur before running a scan.

If you disable this setting or do not configure this setting, the scan will start using the existing security intelligence.

Registry

ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  • CheckForSignaturesBeforeRunningScanREG_DWORD

Other policies in the same category

View all policies in this category (33)