
They mean the same thing, just run under a slightly different name. Note : The Windows Explorer is also referred to like the File Explorer in newer operating systems. This guide focuses on how you can fix the Windows Explorer not responding on a Windows 10 operating system. When the Windows Explorer is not responding, frozen, or won’t open, you will run into many frustrating problems while trying to use your computer. It allows you to see, access, and manage all the files residing on your device. Users can manually update the Windows Defender definitions by going to Windows Security > Virus & threat protection and then clicking on the ' Check for updates' link.The Windows Explorer is your primary way of navigating your system.

Windows 10 users can check what version of Windows Defender is being used by checking this guide. Microsoft has just released new Antivirus/Antispyware definition whose version is 1.313.1687.0 that fixes the issue. Our Quick Scan was not affected because it did not go deep enough into the file system to encounter a file with two dots in it. This also meant that the bug affected both Quick and Full scans. Once you find the offending file, you can remove the extra dot, start the Windows Defender Antivirus Server, and the next scan will be able to continue and not crash. xmlĪfter Windows Defender crashes, you may be able to see the offending file by opening Event Viewer and going to Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > Windows Defender > Operational and examining the errors.


Two dots in file name causes a crashĪ user on Reddit has discovered that these crashes are being caused by files that have two periods in the file name.įor example, when Windows Defender scans the following files it would crash because of the two dots. While two of us at BleepingComputer verified the crashes using the above version, another person was able to complete a Full Scan without an issue.
