Windows Defender PUA Protection

Some Reason can't get our 2nd Desktop PC to keep on with Windows Defender Pua Protection, Avast was removed with Wise Uninstaller, rebooted system, used Avast clear in safe mode as additional step, then ran ConfigureDefenderx64 to configure Defender, made sure enabled Pua protection, then restarted, and when i opened that little app today

Showed Pua Protection disabled still


Any advice? should i do a repair install on that system? and work my way around the other household systems as they all previously ran Avast, and was uninstalled in similar fashion on each one recently


Desktop 1 a repair Install might be hard as I got Programs on D Drive, as well as a few on C:\ Drive that is SSD (1 game), Windows, that is all on the SSD, and a few small programs

D: has Steam games, Firestorm 3rd party viewer for Secondlife, User library folders, and such

Last time I attempted to restore Macrium system image, some how lost Pro, and ended up back with Home, I do have images saved, but nothing before Avast was reinstalled on advice from another online friend. Or should I just wait til 1909 is released and do a clean install

Oh ok, i'll run one of those on that Desktop tomorrow or later tonight, and hopefully all clean. Previously used Avast Free for like many years, so just still getting used to Defender on the systems

Try Enable or Disable Windows Defender Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUA) Protection using a REG file

AdwCleaner is a one-time, on-demand solution; not ongoing protection.

AMDMan2016 said:

... ran ConfigureDefenderx64 to configure Defender, made sure enabled Pua protection, then restarted, and when i opened that little app today
Showed Pua Protection disabled still

You shouldn't need 3rd-party apps to enable PUA protection. See this tutorial for how to enable it yourself.

Enable or Disable Windows Defender PUA Protection in Windows 10

Bree said:

You shouldn't need 3rd-party apps to enable PUA protection. See this tutorial for how to enable it yourself.

Enable or Disable Windows Defender PUA Protection in Windows 10

That tutorial works for me on all PCs. I run this command in an admin command prompt:
Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection Enabled

Ok Used that Little 3rd Party app to set all back to Default, Restarted System, Then used Set-Mp Preference to activate Pua Protection, then tested it, and successfully blocked the test file like it's suppose to, Full scan completed before excluding a game as i normally do, Nothing found thankfully, CPU temps max it got to during scan was 84C, so think alot better than 86C-87C

Sometime in the future will do a full system clean install, perhaps after RL move is completed

Right now when 1909 Comes out will just do inplace update, as sfc scannow finds no problems nor do any of the Dism commands

Thank you all that replied, so appreciate the quick responses here and help in solving issues that i always seem to have due to my own dumbness, now hopefully i can leave other antivirus alone, keep Defender active, and i should be fine, and scan with malwarebytes once a week.

and redo my system image shortly here, even if it may not restore right for me, makes me feel better at least the files are imaged, and can get to them if needed

I am very satisified with Windows Defender.

But should not there be a more simple way to enable PUA protection, or should not the protection be automatic (default) ?

pericles said:

But should not there be a more simple way to enable PUA protection, or should not the protection be automatic (default) ?

Yes and Yes (IMHO), but try telling Microsoft that. It's the default for their Enterprise customers, that's all