Forum Discussion
Bug or feature on Settings -> System -> Storage?
Good day.
Using Windows 11 26200.7462
Recently I have found out that after cleaning temporary files from Settings -> System Storage, If Microsoft Defender Antivirus is checked, it will delete ALL historic data, not only the one not needed or superseded and thus, When you launch Microsoft Defender it says "a quick scan has never been performed"...
Is this intentional?
3 Replies
The scan history, including last scan dates and results, may be reset or deleted. Defender might have to start accumulating new scan data from scratch, which can affect how it reports scan status.
That's an interesting and important observation. Cleaning temporary files via Settings -> System Storage, especially if Microsoft Defender Antivirus is enabled during the cleanup, can sometimes inadvertently remove or affect Defender's historical scan data and logs. This can lead to the message that "a quick scan has never been performed," even if scans have been run previously.
Hi MaxThunder,
This is intentional behavior. When Microsoft Defender Antivirus is selected under Settings > System > Storage > Temporary files, Windows removes Defender’s cached data and protection history, including previous scan records. Because that history is deleted, Defender will then report that a quick scan has never been performed until a new scan is run.
This does not affect Defender’s protection or real-time security in any way; only historical logs are removed and they are treated as disposable by the storage cleanup system. While the result can be confusing from a UI perspective, it is currently considered expected behavior rather than a bug. Users who want to keep scan history should leave that option unchecked during cleanup.
