Solved Windows Defender icon now shows in notification tray

[bru]

I know for a fact that Windows Defender did not have an icon in the notification tray/taskbar in Windows 8/8.1. I'm talking about the bottom right and if you have/had Win 7 using MSE you would have the icon (green house with checkmark and flag) if enabled.

When Windows Defender did not have the same functionality for its icon people were really up in arms and many threads talked about hacks to get it to appear. Well all of a sudden I noticed that it was available and if I select "Show icon and notifications" under customize it appears. If I hover over it it shows "PC Status: Protected" just like MSE.

Does anyone else see this? When did it happen? I would have thought I would see some mention of it somewhere since it was a feature (lacking) that really bothered people.

edit: There is even a tutorial here on how to add it. And it says "Windows Defender does not have a icon in the notification area, but it does run in the background by default and will give you a notification if it detects anything."

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6862-windows-defender-create-shortcut-windows-8-a.html

I'm pretty sure it is not showing because it detected something. Like I said its showing just like the MSE icon.

 

[derekimo]

I noticed that change a while back actually, so have some other folks,

There's a Windows Defender Icon in my Taskbar - Microsoft Community

I kind of like it myself.

 

[bru]

I noticed that change a while back actually, so have some other folks,

There's a Windows Defender Icon in my Taskbar - Microsoft Community

I kind of like it myself.

Thanks. I searched over there and that thread didn't come up. Guess I am late to the party. Just happenstance that I saw the icon while a scan was running. I had to set it to show and voila. I like it too.

 

[derekimo]

You're welcome. I googled that, better results than trying it there.

I first noticed it would only show after launching the UI, I did the same thing you did to make it show all the time.

 

[bru]

Kind of thought this would be a bit more of a big deal as many were verrry unhappy there was no icon. Although I suppose many have moved to Win 10 , which apparently has the icon.

 

[derekimo]

Yeah, I would have thought I'd see a few threads on it by now.