Automatically install updates for WIndows Defender on Windows 8 but with manual WIndows Updates

Question

I do not want to install WIndows updates automatically, for good reason.  But I do want to install Windows Defender updates automatically.  This used to be possible in previous versions of Windows but I can't figure out how to have Windows Defender auto update in Windows 8 without changing my overall Windows update settings.

Answer 1

Well that is silly design.  It may be good for your normal home users but I find it troublesome for myself.

I guess I will just turn it off and go with another solution.  Disappointing.

Answer 2

Hi _rw,

Thank you for posting in the Microsoft Community.

Windows Defender and Windows Update in Windows 8 both depend on the Windows Updates services. So it is not possible to set only Windows Defender to perform automatic updates.

You need to try changing the Windows updates settings to notify for Windows updates and then try to download the same.

Here are some articles which you provides you information on how Windows Defender and Windows Update work:

Protect your PC

Keep your PC up to date with Windows Update

Windows automatic updating: Frequently asked questions

In case you need further assistance please feel free to contact us.

Answer 3

I decided to just create a scheduled task for this.  It gets the job done and updates the definitions on Windows 8.

See the link below for additional details:

http://omnidirecttech.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/windows-defender-automatic-definition-updates-in-windows-8/

Thank you for posting this.  It solved the problem.  It's awesome!

It's unfortunate that Microsoft almost never has the answers to people's problems on these forums.

Microsoft's standard answers:

Did you restart the computer?

Did you set windows updates for automatic and let it do its thing?

On these forums, it's virtually always someone who doesn't work for Microsoft that answers the actual question, and it's unfortunate that Microsoft still acts like Internet Explorer is the browser that people use by default--what I mean by that is, even if you have IE "disabled", most Windows Updates are seemingly still mostly issues regarding IE, mostly security issues.  I know I certainly don't want that stuff clogging up my system.  I learned way back with XP that you should *only* get the updates you absolutely need, and if you have to spend a couple hours or even days researching which updates those are, so be it.  It's not worth having a machine run at 2/3 the speed in a year that it currently does just because you wanted to get automatic updates.

Answer 4

A bit related, but if rebooting is the good reason, I personnaly use this setting : 

• Auto download but manual install

- AutoInstallMinorUpdates = 1 (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd939844(v=ws.10).aspx

This way, minor updates like windows defender definition (but not only, can be windows updates) are silently installed while updates requiring reboot need my approbation.

Answer 5

<EDIT>The statements between the two lines below are INCORRECT! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If all were well with your computer, Windows Defender should auto-update itself roughly once-a-day even if Automatic Updates is disabled (turned off).

Defender's older stepbrothers Microsoft Security Essentials & Windows Defender (in Win7 & earlier) worked the same way. In Win8, Defender's a rebadged version of Microsoft Security Essentials. [Yes, it's very confusing!]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The statements between the two lines above are INCORRECT!</EDIT>

Defender auto-updates itself via the Windows Update "tunnel" but technically not via Automatic Updates.

You will find support for Windows Defender on a Win8 computer in this forum => http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-security

[Last Revised (as marked) - 24 November 2012, 20:22 UTC]