The latest versions of almost all operating systems are designed to fight against viruses, malware, and spyware. However, malicious software developers find a way to spread viruses on your laptop. Finding and removing the virus from your laptop is a straightforward process. When a virus enters your laptop, you can experience the following symptoms on it.

How Can I Scan My Dell Laptop For A Virus
Scan Dell Laptop For A Virus
  • Frequent pop-up windows appear on the screen
  • Slow performance 
  • Unexplained data loss
  • Frequent crashes
  • The laptop turns off unexpectedly

On this page, we’re going to see how to scan a Dell laptop (Windows 10) for a virus using the Windows Security tool.

Scanning the Dell laptop for a virus

  • Initially, sign in to your Windows 10 laptop with admin rights.
  • Next, check and close all the files, apps, and programs that are running on your laptop.
  • Now, click on the Search field available in the taskbar of your laptop.
  • Type the “Windows Security…” command.
  • From the suggestions, select the Windows Security Settings option.
  • Now, the Windows Security window will open. Alternatively, open the Settings screen of your Windows 10 laptop and select Update & Security > Windows Security to open the same window.
  • Under the Protection Areas section, click on the Virus & threat protection option. 
  • Now, you will be directed to the Virus & threat protection screen.
  • On the opened screen, click the Quick scan button to run a quick virus scan on your Dell laptop.
  • Click the Scan options command on the same screen to select the desired scan options.
  • Now, you can see the Full Scan, Custom Scan, and Microsoft Defender Offline Scan options displayed along with the Quick Scan option.
  • Select the Microsoft Defender Offline Scan option by clicking the radio button beside it. (Note: Select Full Scan if you wish to scan your entire Dell laptop for the virus. Similarly, select the Custom Scan option if you wish to scan some specific folder or file on your laptop).
  • Click the Scan now button.
  • Now, a pop-up dialog box titled Save your work will open and click the Scan button in it.
  • Within a few seconds, your laptop will restart, and then the virus scanning process will be initiated by the Windows Defender Offline tool.
  • Wait for the scanning process to complete.
  • Once it’s done, the scan results will be displayed on the screen.
  • Follow the on-screen instructions to remove the detected viruses.

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