

Under Best match, select Edit group policy to launch Local Group Policy Editor. In your Windows 10 or Windows 11 taskbar search box, type gpedit.

Open Local Group Policy Editor, as follows: To enable and configure always-on protection: You can use Local Group Policy Editor to enable and configure Microsoft Defender Antivirus always-on protection settings. Enable and configure always-on protection in Group Policy These activities include events, such as processes making unusual changes to existing files, modifying or creating automatic startup registry keys and startup locations (also known as autostart extensibility points, or ASEPs), and other changes to the file system or file structure.

Always-on protection consists of real-time protection, behavior monitoring, and heuristics to identify malware based on known suspicious and malicious activities.
