need help re anti-virus protection

noguru11 said:

At this time, in my system tray there is a shield which says Windows Security. When I click on it, I'm on the Windows Security screen with all things checked except for Account Protection; I did not set up a Windows Account.



In Start, there is no Defender in Windows System. There is a separate Windows Security shield (not a folder) which opens to the same Windows Security page. I would like some sort of visual confirmation that Defender is, in fact, protecting my laptops. I believe Norton is now completely removed.
In Task Manager, I see Windows Security Notification, but neither there nor anywhere else do I see the word "Defender."

If you are running the real time paid version of Malwarebytes (also known as MBAM, for Malware Bytes Anti Malware), you have to go into the settings on MBAM and uncheck the setting for "Register MBAM in the Windows Security Center".

https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topi...curity-center/

Until you change that setting Windows definitely will see MBAM as another real time antivirus and will not allow Windows Security to turn on. "Windows Security Antivirus" is the newer name for the built-in Windows antivirus program. It used to be called "Windows Defender" and before that back in the days of Windows XP and Windows 7 it was called "Microsoft Security Essentials" or MSE for short. A lot of people in the computer security world still call Windows Security by its old name, Windows Defender, just Defender or "WD" for short. No matter what you call it, it is still the same built-in Microsoft antivirus.

You can also find on the MBAM forum a list of exceptions to set between Windows Security and MBAM. Some say the exceptions are not necessary, some say they are. I have a lifetime license for MBAM Premium, but I don't use it. A few years ago when I did use MBAM Premium I set the exceptions but never noticed any difference one way or the other.

Sometimes when you run a third party antivirus it will turn off the Windows Security icon in the notifications area on the task bar. There are several ways to fix this. It's a good idea to have the icon visible to alert you if Windows Security finds anything on your computer or the computer needs attention for any other security-related reason. It's kind of like the Check Engine Light in your car. When everything is ok, that icon has a green check mark. If there is something wrong, it will be either a yellow or red check mark and that is when you need to open Windows Security and see what needs to be done.

The easiest way to restore the icon is click the little arrow on the notification area of the task bar and see if the Windows Security icon is in the field that pops up, if it is just click and drag the icon back down to the notification area. If the icon is not in that hidden area, right click the task bar, go to task bar settings, scroll to Notification area and click "choose which icons appear on the task bar" then enable the Windows Security icon. If that does not restore the missing icon, you can go to Settings under the start menu, look under Personalization and click the same "Select which icons appear on the task bar". You can also check the Task Manager, look under Startup and be sure the Windows Security icon is set to "enabled". With these methods you may need to restart for the change to take effect.

If none of these solutions work to restore the Defender icon, it might be worth it to restore the computer back to its original specs. You can save any files like pictures, music, documents, downloads, etc that you want to keep on a flash drive and use the restore function in Settings to wipe the hard drive, you can select to download a new Windows and click "remove everything" to start over with a fresh Windows system. You will have to reinstall programs and apps you had before but it will reset Windows and WD will definitely be on when you get back into the system. To be honest it might be a good idea to reset anyway. There is no telling what Norton really did to your registry. That is one of the other bad problems with third party antivirus. A lot of them are notoriously hard to remove and play havoc with the Windows system when you do. The last time I removed Avast from a computer it also took out the WD Virus and Threat Protection module with it, and that was with using the dedicated Avast removal tool. I had to reset Windows to get the computer and WD working again.

Third party antivirus often cause more problems than they ever solve. At least that is what I think, and I have tried most of them at one time or another. The third parties make a lot of promises and have a lot of whiz-bang interfaces with bells and whistles that are really not needed, some even nag you anyway even though you might be running the paid version already to try this or that scan or cleaning service, which of course you have to pay extra for. Norton and Avira are also in the business now of using your computer to mine Cryptocurrency. I read that you can turn that feature off but no thanks. Personally I do not want anything to do with crypto-anything.

Jimmy

Thank you, DC,
I spent my morning following the instructions here:
Removing Norton Download Manager | Norton Community
and after many searches and deletions in many places, including the registry, I finally succeeded in keeping Norton Download Manager from refusing to stay away.
But Defender still did not turn on.

Now I have done as you said to do in MalwareBytes, and Defender AntiVirus is apparently turned on, Windows Firewall is turned on, but Web Protection says " No providers." I don't know what that means. I'm not quite sure what the status of Malwarebytes is right now; hopefully it's still protecting me; it's like an old friend; I'd miss it if it were gone.

Thanks again, Jimmy, for the information and advice.
In my system tray, there is a shield (Windows Security). There is not, however, a Defender icon, either in the system tray or on the desktop.
Should there be?
Can there be?
In Windows Security, it says Web Protection, no providers. Is this important?

Mine also says " No Providers".