- Microsoft’s update for Windows Defender earlier this week has caused big issues such as missing shortcuts, taskbar, and even the whole Office suite itself.
- The reason behind this issue was an Attack Surface Reduction rule in the latest Windows Defender security intelligence version; which is now fixed through an update.
- The missing shortcuts, however, are not fixed with the update. System admins will need to use scripts provided by Microsoft to bring back the missing shortcuts.
Earlier this week, we shared the news about the problem in the latest Windows Defender update, which effectively resulted in missing shortcuts, search results, and even the complete Office suite in some cases. Now, Microsoft releases a fix for this problem.
False positive detections
The problem was caused by an Attack Surface Reduction rule after updating the Windows Defender security intelligence to version 1.381.2140.0. After this particular update, the devices with “Block Win32 API calls from Office macro” rule “on” resulted in many false positive detections. As a temporary solution, Microsoft recommended switching the rule to “Audit” mode, but with the release of the patch, users can now change it back to “Block” mode.
The new Windows Defender security intelligence build 1.381.2164.0 fixes the issue; the patch is now available in the Windows Update. However, to bring back the deleted shortcuts, you will need to use a PowerShell script that is shared on GitHub. The reason behind the necessity of the use of an additional tool is Windows Defender somehow did not record the things it deleted during this issue. You can follow the link below to reach the instructions and scripts that bring back the missing shortcuts on the systems:
Click here to see the instructions and the scripts to fix the missing shortcuts problem