Windows 10 Anti-Virus "Managed by Administrator" Fix

Onelove · 02 Sep 2019

Not sure if this was from a virus or what but I had malware bytes and spybot installed. I ran malware bytes and cleared out some infections and uninstalled wanting to move to defender strickley. I go into the Defender page and the Security page loads blank, when I go into the anti-protection every option has "managed by administrator" on it, and the option to turn it on is greyed out. I have tired logging into the admin account and it tells me the same thing. At this point I am trying to figure out what to do. I tired deleting the Defender keys and rebooting and that didnt do anything. I am at a loss how to recover this.

Was hoping someone could give me some helpful hints, as I really do not want to have to reformat to recover this. Why does windows have to be so broken sometimes?

dalchina · 03 Sep 2019

Hi, you might try this:
Reset Local Group Policy Editor Settings to Default in Windows 10

- and before you think 'I've got Home' (have you? -your specs don't say-) so group policy doesn't apply, it's likely that 'something' has changed registry keys equivalent to group policies hence you see

"managed by administrator"

Why does windows have to be so broken sometimes?

Apart from MS mess-ups, and I don't think this is one, you have to realise the OS is very exposed to 3rd party programs writing to and changing things that have adverse consequences. That goes for users too, of course.

I really do not want to have to reformat to recover this.

tenforums constantly recommends users routinely use disk imaging e.g. Macrium Reflect - free/paid- plus large enough external storage for image files.

If you do that, you can, in many cases, restore your PC to a previous good state- even if you have to replace your system disk.

Hence you may avoid a clean install in some cases.

And, you might even be able to avoid seeking tech help, and have the confidence you've a full backup of what you've imaged.