The original post: /r/piracy by /u/Kyla_3049 on 2024-12-24 15:48:14.

Any malware can add itself to Windows Defender’s exception list therefore rendering it useless.

Here’s an example from a test VM:

https://imgur.com/a/kceMRcx

The malware put the ProgramData folder in exceptions, then checks if Explorer is open to that folder and if so auto-closes it.