Defender Status 1.2.0

Full Changelog: v1.1.1...v1.2.0

Defender Status 1.1.1

Defender Status v1.1.1

Adds a rebuilt, tested auto-updater, and gives the project a proper identity.

Auto-updater (rebuilt)

The previous updater could fail silently: it used a malformed cmd.exe
invocation, waited only two seconds for the file lock to clear, and had no way
to tell whether the swap actually succeeded. It now:

• Waits for the file lock by probing the target until the running process
  releases it (up to 30 seconds), instead of a fixed delay.
• Stages, backs up, then swaps — the new binary is moved into place as
  .new, the current one is kept as .bak, and the swap is only committed if
  the move succeeds.
• Verifies the result by rejecting an installed file that is implausibly
  small, then restoring the backup automatically.
• Rolls back on failure at every step, so a bad download or a failed move
  cannot leave you without a working executable.
• Logs every step to %LOCALAPPDATA%\DefenderStatus\update.log, so a
  failure can be diagnosed after the app has closed.
• Verifies SHA-256 against the published .sha256 before doing anything.

Downloads are streamed with progress, written to a unique temp file, flushed
and hashed before use, and deleted on any failure.

Verified

The updater is covered by an automated suite (tools/test-updater.ps1, also
run in CI). It performs a real update from a 1.0.0 build to the published
release and checks the binary hash changes to match, then feeds the swap helper
a deliberately corrupt payload and confirms the original binary is preserved
byte for byte. 19 checks, all passing.

Icon and branding

• The .exe now carries its icon — a shield with a health pulse line, in
  Explorer, the taskbar, Alt-Tab and the title bar. Multi-resolution
  (16–256 px).
• A 1200×630 social preview image, so shared links render a proper card.
• A full favicon set (SVG, 16, 32, 48, 180, 512 px) and a web app manifest.
• All generated from tools/make-icons.ps1, so the set can be rebuilt in one
  pass after any brand change.

Download

File	Size	Notes
DefenderStatus.exe	~58.7 MB	Portable, self-contained, no installer
DefenderStatus.exe.sha256	<1 KB	SHA-256 of the executable above

Verify

Get-FileHash .\DefenderStatus.exe -Algorithm SHA256

SHA-256:

ee00ad3b6e28581934b94cca0d41255d417c0dad0052deedfa1e923fde2c6ce4

Requirement

Windows 10 or 11, x64. Administrator rights are needed only to read exclusions
and to run the Actions page.

If you are already on v1.1.0, the in-app updater will move you to this build
and verify the download before installing.

Full Changelog: v1.1.0...v1.1.1

Defender Status v1.1.0

Defender Status v1.1.0

This release adds a Actions page that can turn protection back on, native markdown release notes, and a layout that fits smaller screens.

New in this release

Protection actions

A new Actions page offers three administrator operations:

• Restore protection re-enables real-time protection, behaviour monitoring, script scanning, archive scanning and download scanning if any were turned off, then requests a signature update.
• Run a quick scan starts a Microsoft Defender quick scan.
• Update signatures pulls the newest definitions.

Restore only ever turns protection on. There is no control anywhere in the app that disables defence. If a component is off because of group policy, a third-party tool or Tamper Protection, the app reports that it could not change it rather than pretending it did.

Markdown release notes

Update notes are now rendered properly in the app instead of showing raw text: headings, lists, bold, italics, inline code, fenced code blocks, blockquotes, tables and links.

UI

• The window is smaller by default (1120×720) and the whole interface is scrollable, so it fits a 1366×768 laptop without clipping.
• Component tiles reflow to the available width.
• The sidebar shows whether the app is running elevated, with a one-click Restart elevated.

Download

File	Size	Notes
DefenderStatus.exe	~58.6 MB	Portable, self-contained, no installer
DefenderStatus.exe.sha256	<1 KB	SHA-256 of the executable above

Verify

Get-FileHash .\DefenderStatus.exe -Algorithm SHA256

SHA-256:

41f7bad703cf52751211fd15c8a6860fb40b8d34f06cabc5a45d2cf22f47c4f4

Requirement

Windows 10 or 11, x64. Administrator rights are needed only to read exclusions and to run the Actions page.

Defender Status v1.0.0

Defender Status v1.0.0

The first release of Defender Status — a read-only Windows Defender health dashboard.

What it does

• Shows a single rolled-up posture verdict: Protection active, Needs attention or Protection reduced.
• Reports each protection component: antivirus, real-time protection, behaviour monitoring, IOAV, network inspection, cloud-delivered protection, tamper protection, PUA protection and script scanning.
• Signature and engine versions with a stale-signature warning.
• Quick and full scan history.
• Firewall profile status (domain, private, public).
• Detection history with severity, action taken, affected file and timestamp.
• Configured exclusions viewer (requires administrator to read).
• Markdown report export and copy-to-clipboard.
• Checksum-verified auto-update from this repository's releases.

What it will not do

Defender Status contains no code that can modify Windows Defender. It cannot turn real-time protection on or off, add or remove exclusions, change firewall rules, or write to Defender policy. It only calls the read side of the Defender PowerShell module. Use Windows Security or your device-management tooling for configuration changes.

Download

File	Size	Notes
DefenderStatus.exe	~58.6 MB	Portable, self-contained, no installer
DefenderStatus.exe.sha256	<1 KB	SHA-256 of the executable above

Verify the download

Get-FileHash .\DefenderStatus.exe -Algorithm SHA256

Compare the result with the contents of DefenderStatus.exe.sha256. If they match, the download is intact.

SHA-256:

88859c2307357abd0d44a9d4ffb42651f425ce5a0daccd065f78e9b244f81191

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11, x64.
• No runtime needed — the .NET runtime is bundled.
• Administrator is required only to read the exclusions list. Everything else works without elevation.

Notes

• Windows may show a SmartScreen prompt for a new unsigned application. Verify the checksum above, or build from source with a single dotnet publish.
• The app sends no telemetry. Its only network request is the update check against this repository's public Releases API, which can be turned off in Settings.

Full documentation: https://defender-status.pages.dev/docs