Is your hard drive suddenly full? This might be why.
Is your hard drive or solid-state drive suddenly beginning to run out of space? You might have fallen victim to an unexpected Microsoft Defender bug that is filling up Windows 10 boot drives with gigabytes of files, eating up storage space in the process.
The Microsoft Defender bug causes a specific folder to begin filling up with thousands of files, with some users reporting a total space loss of up to 30GB.
The Microsoft Defender bug was introduced with a recent Microsoft Defender antivirus engine update, 1.1.18100.5.
After installing the automatic update, some users began noticing that the C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindows DefenderScansHistoryStore began filling with very small files, ranging from around 600 bytes to no larger than 2KB.
Related: Is Microsoft Defender the Best Antivirus for Your PC in 2021?
The number of total files varies between users who report the issue. Still, one person on the official Microsoft Q&A Board reported that “Over a 24 hour period we ended up with roughly 950,000 files and it was taking 30 GB of space.”
Other users report larger numbers of files, up to 11 million individual files, but only consuming around 11GB of storage.
The issue appears to stem from Microsoft Defender’s real-time protection and affects both consumer and enterprise customers.
Related: How to Turn on Microsoft Defender Antivirus and Enable Real-Time Protection
Microsoft is aware of the Microsoft Defender real-time protection file creation bug and has released an update, moving the antivirus engine from 1.1.18100.5 to 1.1.18100.6.
To find out which version of Microsoft Defender you’re using:
From here, you can see the current version of the Microsoft Defender antivirus engine you’re currently using. If you’re using the old version, head to Windows Update and check for the latest update.
While a Microsoft Defender bug consuming additional storage space is irritating and time-consuming (especially for those in business or enterprise), there is no indication that the files are difficult to remove.
Just press CTRL + A to select each file in the Store folder (you can find the full file path above), then Shift + Delete to remove the files from your system permanently.
Wondering whether you should turn off Microsoft Defender on Windows? Here’s why you should and how to stay safe afterwards.
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About The Author
Gavin Phillips
(843 Articles Published)
Gavin is the Junior Editor for Windows and Technology Explained, a regular contributor to the Really Useful Podcast, and was the Editor for MakeUseOf’s crypto-focused sister site, Blocks Decoded. He has a BA (Hons) Contemporary Writing with Digital Art Practices pillaged from the hills of Devon, as well as over a decade of professional writing experience. He enjoys copious amounts of tea, board games, and football.
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