windows defender ati virus question

i have win 10 64 bit pro 20h2 and i keep getting a notice my windows defender is off. so i go check and it is on. then i look in another place and it tells me the defender antivirus is off. i have c cleaner running and malwarebytes running. i think the malware bytes is running and c cleaner runs when i run it.

anyway i was told from this site to run malware bytes along with defender so is that correct and if so why do i see the anti virus off when i look in windows security it tells me it is off and when i try to run the app it will not run. but in defender it says it is on. so are they different apps? should i take malwarebytes out or turn that off? thanks bp

ok thanks i bet that is what i have going on. i will let you know in a bit. thanks

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ok i could not turn off malwarebytes in task manager under startup as it was not listed there. then i went to malwarebytes and tried there and it did not turn off. so also it did not go away when i unchecked the start with windows. so i just clicked quite and no i do not see it in running processes, nor in the up arrow next to the battery, but windows antiviruse is still off and when i click that link it fails to change.

it must not be running because the scan is not running when i start it to scan. now i can't even get to the virus app to run it.

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ok i got the the page to turn on the antivirus and it will not turn on. so for the heck of it now i will uninstall malware bytes and ccleaner and see if it turns back on. i do not have anything else installed that i can think task manage has 4 items running at startup the start menu skype but disabled chrome browser and windows security notifier.

so i will uninstall malwarebytes nd ccleaner and see what happens and let you know. if it fails to start i will do a restore back a few months and see if it get turned back on. i do not remember turning it off. thanks

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ok before the pc resets nothing was working. so i'm doing a reset back to nothing to see if i get it back. i have backups i will put back one at a time as needed. i will return in a bit to let you know if i got it back. for some reason i did not have any restores they all went away. my pc is about to restart now have 80% downloaded files. thanks

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ok got defender back had to do a reset. the wifes pc has defender turned of like mine but her malware bytes has 14 days to do and then i will switch it back. i think i had malware bytes on this also per some here telling me to get it and ccleaner but i could be wrong.
anyway i just rand the scan and it started right up. if and when the wifes mw bytes goes off i will turn it off and turn defender back on. i have no clue why i had to do a reset. but now as i need them i will reinstall the apps i had on the desktop. the icons are there but not functioning as they got removed. thanks

You can go into the settings on Malwarebytes, put a check mark in the box next to "Never register Malwarebytes with the Windows Security Center". That should allow Windows Defender to run normally. You can also add exclusions in both Defender and MWB to be extra sure they don't conflict with each other. There are about 6 exclusions to set and there should be posts in the Malwarebytes support forum and maybe here too with the different exclusions needed.

Jimmy

i may do that. but for the problems it gave me if i reinstall it i will run it manually. it never gave me any warnings before when it was running so my guess is it need to be ran manually. the wifes is set to run auto and she has yet to get a warning. i should have never had to reset the pc for a program, so something went bad with the app to cause me to go thru all this aggravation.

anyway that must be why i kept getting the notices that windows security was not running. tomorrow is another day

thanks

the free version looks like it does not have that option. i can't turn it off. so far windows defender is running see partial scan

I guess they must have changed MBAM since the last time I used it, I had Premium back then and was able to set that Security Center setting to off. Running the free version should not affect Defender at all. Looks like your Defender is working anyway but you can still set exclusions if you want, they are not required though. Sorry if I gave wrong suggestions.

Jimmy