When updating the virus definition file for defender, should SmartScreen be turned off or not?

Question

We are using Two Windows PCs with the following environments.

・Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 64-bit operating system

・Version 1809

・OS build 17763.1294

・Two PCs are not connected to the Internet.

・The virus definition file of Microsoft Defender is updated regularly.

・The virus definition update files are downloaded from another PC connected to the Internet, and the update files are copied using USB memory key and then executed.

There is one point where the environment differs between the two PCs. One PC has the firewall enabled and the other PC has the firewall disabled.

The other day, on the PC with the firewall disabled, when I tried to run the virus definition file update, I got a popup saying "SmartScreen can't be reached right now".

I know that by turning off SmartScreen, the popups will stop appearing, but I am leaving it on because of the possible negative effects of turning off SmartScreen. Even though the pop-up appears, I know that the application I am running is not dangerous, so I am running it as is.

We do not know why the "SmartScreen can't be reached right now" suddenly appears during the virus definition file update process, which we have been performing in an offline environment. We would like to continue to use these two PCs offline.

Please let me know how I can investigate this.

Answer 1

Hello

Since the popup is related to the smartscreen, we may need to enable the smartscreen temporarily when we update the virus denifinition then disabled it again after we update the virus definition successfully.

Here is a link for your reference:

FIX: SmartScreen can't be reached right now on Windows 10/11. - WinTips.org