How To Scan A File/Directory With Windows Defender (Windows 8 AntiVirus)

By default there is no simple way to scan a single file or directory with the built in Windows 8 Anti Virus program.

One way is to open Windows Defender, then select Custom, then click Scan.
You are then presented with a folder selection screen, which allows you to selectively scan parts of your PC's storage.

But to scan just one file, you have to get into command line land. To do this:

1. Open a Command Prompt
2. Type the following:

"c:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -scan -scantype 3 -file PATH_TO_YOUR_FILE

e.g.

"c:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -scan -scantype 3 -file c:\users\ted\downloads\suspect_file.zip


You'll need to surround your file's path with double quotes if it contains spaces.

If you are using this in an automated way (e.g. your download manager is scanning completed downloads) it's worth knowing that the scan results will be logged in %TEMP%\MpCmdRun.log

You can use that file's contents to see how the scan went.

Hope that helps!