View the progress of a Windows Defender scan

You can view which type of Windows Defender scan is in progress and see how long it has been running.

To view the progress of a scan

Open Windows Defender by clicking Start, clicking Programs, and then clicking Windows Defender.
If a scan is in progress, the progress is displayed until the scan is complete. If the scan is complete, the status will display the scan results, and the date and time that the scan completed.

Note

If a scan is in progress, you can also click the Windows Defender icon in the notification area to view the status of the scan. To choose when the icon should appear in the notification area, click Tools, click Options, and then, under Real-time protection options, click the option that you want.
To view when your computer was last scanned for spyware and other potentially unwanted software, check the Status area on the Windows Defender Home page.