Windows Defender after updates stop

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Will Defender security updates still be available after W7 updates cease?

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Yes:

Microsoft blinks: MS Security Essentials will be supported after Win7 hits end-of-life next month

EP wrote:

Microsoft has now changed MS support article 4527878 [Wed. afternoon Dec. 18], reflecting that MSE updates will continue on after Jan. 14, 2020:

Will Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) continue to protect my computer after the end of support?

Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) will continue to receive signature updates after January 14, 2020. However, the MSE platform will no longer be updated.

MSE definition/signature updates will continue on after the Win7 EOL date but MSE app/program updates will not (latest version of MSE is v4.10.209) – no new versions of MSE will be released for Win7 after that

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@A1ex –

Please be aware that the Windows Defender that comes “bundled”with (and has always come “bundled” with) Windows 7 is NOT the same as the MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) program that @b mentions in the post above.

MSE is a separate anti-malware program that MS developed specifically for Windows 7 users when they decided to more tightly integrate Windows Defender into Windows 8/8.1. At one point, MS wanted Win 7 users to stop using Windows Defender and start using MSE instead, if I recall correctly.

In light of what @b posted above, it may very well be that the built-in version of Windows Defender will continue to receive definition updates, as it seems to me that it probably uses most of the same inner workings that MSE does.

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Thanks for the clarification. I incorrectly assumed the question was about MSE not Defender for Windows 7.

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