Remove “Scan with Microsoft Defender” Right-click Menu Entry

When you right-click on a file, folder, or drive, you’ll see the “Scan with Microsoft Defender…” option. It’s a useful option to custom scan a specific file/folder/drive. However, if you want to remove the option to declutter the right-click menu, this article tells you how.

The “Scan with Microsoft Defender…” option is powered by the module C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\shellext.dll. You can block this shell extension via the registry.

Remove “Scan with Microsoft Defender” Context Menu Option

1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
2. Go to the following key:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked
   
   or
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked

3. In the right pane, create a new String value (REG_SZ)
4. Name the REG_SZ value as {09A47860-11B0-4DA5-AFA5-26D86198A780}

   

   Note: If you made the changes in HKEY_CURRENT_USER, it will affect only on the current user account. To block the shell extension for all users, make the changes under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

5. Exit the Registry Editor.
6. Log off and log back in for the change to take effect.

The “Scan with Microsoft Defender” entry should no longer appear in the right-click context menu.