Optimize Windows Defender exclusion script with native PowerShell #2930

[IamLRBA]

cc
@HannesWell
Hello,
Since the script as per @fdcastel, to add an exclusion to Windows Defender seems overly complex. Based on your concerns about the proposed Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess 'C:\Program Files\DBeaver\dbeaver.exe' script, this script replaces the original complex LINQ-based exclusion check with a more idiomatic and simpler version PowerShell implementation.

How It Addresses the your Concerns:

• Duplicate Prevention: HashSet.Contains() check is just as effective as LINQ
• Single Admin Context: All operations happen in one PowerShell invocation
• No Growing Exclusion Lists: Only genuinely new paths get added

Fixes #2930

[HannesWell]

Thank you for this contribution. The changes look good too me and the script indeed looks cleaner. I'm not very familiar with Powershell and that was what I came up with after searching the internet a bit.

However, I could confirm that @fdcastel's objection is correct and this script could be even simpler.
If he doesn't want to contribute the simplification by himself, you could update this PR accordingly, but I would await his reaction first.

[IamLRBA]

Thank you for this contribution. The changes look good too me and the script indeed looks cleaner. I'm not very familiar with Powershell and that was what I came up with after searching the internet a bit.

However, I could confirm that @fdcastel's objection is correct and this script could be even simpler. If he doesn't want to contribute the simplification by himself, you could update this PR accordingly, but I would await his reaction first.

Thanks for your feedback @HannesWell, If @fdcastel approves I can proceed to update the PR...as per your guidance ofcourse!
Cheers!

[fdcastel]

Apologies for the delay (I was abroad).

I agree with @HannesWell that the script can be simplified even further.

@IamLRBA Based on my tests (and I believe @HannesWell can confirm as well), just using the call

Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess $pathsToExclude

should be sufficient. There is no need for any if statements or for instantiating a new Collections.Generic.HashSet[String].

[IamLRBA]

Thank you for the feedback @fdcastel . You're right upon re-testing with just: Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess $pathsToExclude, the command handles duplicates cleanly without throwing errors. I’ll simplify the script accordingly and update the PR shortly.

[IamLRBA]

@fdcastel, I've updated the script to simplify it as suggested. It now directly uses Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess $pathsToExclude without the extra conditionals or set creation. Let me know if anything else needs tweaking.
Thanks!
cc @HannesWell

[fdcastel]

Looks good to me! I don’t have a Java setup here to test it out, but the changes seem fine. 🚀 👍🏻