Windows Defender, the in-house security solution offered by Microsoft for those who do not wish to install a third-party antivirus on their machine, has recently been hit by a bug caused by the latest security update. The bug causes application shortcuts in the Start menu, pinned to the taskbar, and on the desktop to be missing or removed, resulting in errors when trying to run (.exe) files that have dependencies with shortcut files.
The bug affects all supported versions of Windows, including Windows 10 and Windows 11. However, the good news is that Microsoft has already deployed a patch to remove this malfunction. The users affected by the bug simply have to apply the patch, while others will be able to take advantage of a security update 1.381.2164.0 that is already free of bugs.
It is important to note that installing the patch will not restore shortcuts that may have been previously deleted. It will be up to the user to restore them manually. This can be done by recreating the shortcuts or by restoring the files from a backup.
It is always advisable to keep your software up-to-date, as security updates are released to patch vulnerabilities and keep your system secure. However, this incident serves as a reminder to always keep a backup of your important files and shortcuts, in case something goes wrong during an update.