Regardless of whether you choose Microsoft Defender Antivirus, or a third party antivirus solution you need to be sure these products are not scanning critical File and folders because Occasionally Microsoft Security Essentials or Microsoft Defender cause problems with some Files and folders. Typical issues include slow performance , deleting some necessary files or erratic operation or it may flag a file or folder that you trust as malicious. To work around these problems you can add this kind of files and folders to the list of exceptions.
What is new: (Tuesday, 27 August 2024)
1. [Fixed] – The file on the network drive could not be added.
2. [Added] – Options to add or remove a process, extension and IP address.
3. [Added] – Sorting by columns feature.
4. [Added] – Ability to restore backup list by dragging and dropping.
5. [Added] – Icons on the interface have been enlarged.
6. [Added] – Many code improvements.
In Windows 11 and 10 , there is a new app called Microsoft Defender Security Center . The app, formerly known as “Microsoft Defender Dashboard”, has been created to help the user control his security and privacy settings. You can add any trusted file, file type, folder, or a process to the exclusions list with the following steps ;
1. Open settings Application.
2. Choose Update & security.
3. Open Windows security.
4. Select Virus & threat protection.
5. Click Manage settings under the Virus & threat protection settings.
6. Click Add or remove exclusions
7. Under Add an exclusion, select the files, folders, file types, or process.
You may need to repeat the instructions to exclude other items you don’t want the antivirus to scan to avoid false positives.
As you see adding exceptions manually through the graphical user interface would be time consuming, tedious and, prone to human error therefore we have coded a portable Freeware to simplify the whole process.
How to use Defender Exclusion Tool
After downloading, extract the zip file to your desired location, then double click the “ExcTool.exe” file . To Add an exclusion to Microsoft Defender list , just drag and drop any file or Folder on the software GUI , you can also use File or folder buttons
If you want to add a path, extension, process, or IP address as an exception, click the third button from the left (Enter Exclusion), then type the exception in the blank space in the window that opens.
To remove listed file or folder whether you can select the item on the list and use Remove button (Minus button) or you can Right click on it and choose “Delete selected” feature
You can also Add defender Exclusion tool to your context menu , to do this use Options – Add to the Contex Menu – Add to File Context Menu and Add to Folder Context Menu feature
after that right click any file or Folder to add it into the Microsoft Defender exclusion list , you can use the same way to remove it from the exclusion list .
After exclude files and folders from Microsoft Defender Antivirus scans you can use Export fature to save all your settings (Green Up arrow) , In the future if you want to use these settings again for examle after a system reset, you can use the Import feature (Red Down arrow)
Note: Please do not add important folders which containing system files to the exclusion list
Supported systems: Windows 11, Windows 10 , Windows 8.1 , Windows 8 , Windows 7
Supported languages: English, Turkish , German , Polish , Korean , Portuguese (Brazil) , Greek ,French , Dutch , Russian , Spanish , Italian, Japanese , Chinese (Traditional), Hebrew, Vietnamese
File : ExcTool.exe
Size : 836.17 KB
MD5 : 8ad76f7b3b3e29ed36e6fa9aa42d35a1
SHA1 : 43b3b18eb9a84c17c7c90ac436b5cb8607f16bac
SHA-256 : dcdcd777849896493fbd28cefeab6a2ed03973cc9fbfc0417015d046890868b8
Hi guys Many thanks for everything you guys do.
Can I ask a question;
Since I’m a complete noob in the coding world, I’m curious to know what programming languages, tools and IDEs you guys use to build these awesome softwares?
@Tony – How is Win Defender piracy focused? The only thing it "quarantined" against my wishes was "a digital currency Wallet-Gui" because of it’s built in cryptominer. A reinstall of the wallet, a whitelist of the wallet’s folder and life goes on. I have TBs of files from "non-official" sources. It hasn’t deleted a single file.
Defender Exclusion Tool Command Line Parameters support ?
Please check your Group Policy settings, the warning you mentioned is not "Defender Exclusion Tool " related
I need your assistance with the problem I have been facing. Whenever I try to open "Defender Setting", I get the dialogue box with the message "Your IT administrator has limited access to some areas of this app". Would you please help?
I tried some methods from the community threads, but they didn’t work.
Microsoft’s imposing policy in defender is extremely wrong
I see that Microsoft is playing whack a mole with it’s GUI and file names and placements to keep folks from tamering with Defender. My biggest problem is it was turned into a hyper-vigilant anti-piracy tool and devoting most of it’s resources in that direction rather than the anti-virus/malware probram as it has been sold to Windows users. All the tools the Sordum has graciously provided have been neutered by the Microsoft team. I hope thay aren’t headed down the Adobe slope where piracy became much more and issue than the security of their products, the Flash Player being a prime example. Anyway keep up the good work. It must be dissapointing to develop the software for customizing Defender only to have the Defender reworked solely for the purposes of rendering customization programs unusable.
Can I email you a short clip as an .mp4 file so you can see the problem? I still have no resolution to the problem.
Thank you for the reply.
I have tried what you have advised already and it doesn’t work.
The issue only is related to mapped drives through the network.
I have dragged the mapped drive to the Tool while logged in to the general account wherein the mapped drives are but none add to the exclusion list. I have also tried "add folder to exclusion list" to no avail. I can however add the mapped drives in any account using Windows Security.
The Tool only sees the Admin account and all the drives in that account even though I am opening the Tool in the general account after the prompt (admin login) to open the Tool.
Hi, You can add folders and drives to the program’s list with the folder icon in the program’s interface. You can also use File -> Add Folder or drag and drop. If the drive letter changes, you will need to add it to the exclusion list again.
If the folder or drive is in the defender exclusion list, but the contents of your files are being deleted, this is related to Windows Defender. You should contact Microsoft and report the problem.
Following my last reply, I cannot add the exclusions via the context menu re the mapped drives but can for folders and files. But it is the mapped drive I want to add to exclusions. Furthermore Windows Security still occasionslly deletes the odd file even though it has beeen added tot he exclusion list eg: utorrent, how do I stop this from happening?
How do I add a mapped drive that is not in the Admin account/promary account? I see the Admin account but not the general user account but when exclusions are applied via Windows Security/Defender I can see then in the software (Defender Exclusion)? I can’t see any other user accounts in fact through the software.
Secondly, if map the drives in another account would I need to apply the exclusions again in case a different drive letter is given in this other account?