Allow Windows Defender to update automatically but not Windows

Windows 8. (Not Windows 8.1)

I have Windows Update set to check for updates but not install them automatically. I get nearly daily notifications from Windows Update to install Defender updates. Can I set Defender to auto-download updates without allowing ALL Windows Updates to auto-install?

Note:
This shows up as a similar question. It IS NOT A DUPLICATE because my question is about Win8, not Win7.

Answer

This batch file is from a post by UweBaemayr on the thread you mentioned. It will update the windows defender database (which is what all these regular updates are)

I couldn't find this option on the version of Windows Defender bundled with Windows 8, but these commands in a .BAT file work for me:

pushd "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender"
MpCmdRun.exe -SignatureUpdate
popd

I then created a scheduled task to run this at 4am every morning.

MikeF does the same thing here, but using a standalone task rather than a batch file which can be run at any time.

(The pushd/popd are so I can also run it from the command line on demand.)

I myself don't know if this will work as I don't have an available Win8 machine to try it on - but it should be worth a try.

Windows may also complain that the updates were not installed due to it not being through the Windows Update process, but as long as it's only the signature database getting updated and not a major software patch it should be fine. (Again I'm just speculating here, Defender may let Update know that it doesn't need updating)