Microsoft has issued a refresh of Windows Defender (Beta 2) which includes updates that addresses some issues around signature updating, improvement upon the usability of Windows Defender and also the SpyNet reporting capabilities. Other changes include a tweak that modifies alerts according to the severity of a threat to make them less, improvements in the real-time protection to better watch key parts of the OS for potential infection, and support for 64-bit systems
"[...]We have added a checkbox option to continually display the system tray icon, so those who want to see our icon with the little green check in their system tray as a sign of system health can now do so. We have also improved Windows Defender's ability to report more accurate data about potentially unwanted software through SpyNet so that we can help create better definition updates.", wrote a member of Microsoft's Anti-Malware Engineering Team on the group's blog.
