Security News > 2021 > May > How to exclude files and folders from Windows Defender scans
Windows 10's built-in antivirus tool Microsoft Defender uses threat signatures, behavioral detection, and machine learning models to automatically detect and block suspicious files, folders, and processes.
Microsoft allows you to exclude files and folders, so they are not scanned by Microsoft Defender.
It is important to remember that you should never exclude a file or folder from antivirus scans unless you know for 100% that they are safe and legitimate files.
Otherwise, if you exclude a folder and mistakenly execute malware from it, Microsoft Defender will not detect and quarantine the malware.
To exclude one of these items, click on Add an exclusion and select the type of item you wish to exclude.
If you wish to exclude a file type, you need to specify a file type extension to exclude.