Windows Defender disabled and is unable to start

Hi,

The windows defender in my pc is disabled and isn't starting up. It just shows that the app is turned off and isnt monitoring your system. The windows security center is also disabled. I tried manually enabling it from the services app and it got enabled but it gets disabled after sometimes itself.

I have tried booting into safe mode to enable the defender but no luck. i alos dont have any other AV instaleed on my pc that might be clashing with my defender. I also did an integrity check using /sfc code in command prompt and it returned no errors.

This issue happens just recently ?
If yes, see if system restore will fix it.
Pick a date when WD was running ( or you did not have that warning ) as your restore point.

System Restore Windows 10

I actually dont remeber the last date when defender was running. So i might have major changes to other programs as well if i do a system restore?

Should i download a antivirus software to see if there are any viruses that might be affectng my system?

Yes. Install the FREE edition of Malwarebytes and run it.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-intercept/

*** download the Free version.

thenextstar said:

Should i download a antivirus software to see if there are any viruses that might be affectng my system?

davidhk said:

Yes. Install the FREE edition of Malwarebytes and run it.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-intercept/

*** download the Free version.

Just a bit of clarification::)

• MBAM is not an anti-virus. It's an anti-malware scanner that targets certain types of non-viral malware that can be missed by an anti-virus.
• There is only one installer (setup file) for both Free and Premium versions. It may be downloaded directly from this link.
  
  • Paid users of the Premium version "activate" the program to unlock the premium features.
  • There is a 14-day Trial enabled by default during installation, unless the user opts-out during the setup wizard. After 14 days, the Trial version reverts to the Free, on-demand, manual version if the program has not been activated with a Premium license.

Cheers,

MM

I installed Malwarebytes free edition since the days of Win 7. That's 4 years ago.
I always installed the FREE version. NOT, repeat, NOT the trial version. Nor do I need to wait till trial version to expire before reverting to free version.

Where do you get that information ?

My link is for downloading Free version.

thenextstar,

Here is another link to download the FREE Malwarebytes. NOT the trial version.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/


Adding......................... in fact, only 2 months ago I had to do a Clean Install of Windows 10 and I installed the free edition Malwarebytes back to the system. Never did I need to use the Trial version.

Hi guys,

I installed the free version where it gave me an option to try premium for 15 days and to upgrade if need be so i have started using the premium option for now.

Anyways back to the problem,

I scanned using malwarebytes and it detected around 40 threats on a full system scan, i let the software fixx them and then later unintsalled it.

after a restart these are the things that have happened.

1. The security center is now enabled. Although i had to manually start the service as it was disabled in the services app, but now it remains enabled on restart also.

2. Windows defender is still disabled. But there is a samll change now. Previously when i used to click on use windows defender option the dialog box that says that this app has been turned off and isnt monitoring your system would come up for a split second and then disapper but now it remains open and i can close it manually.

So, the problem remains.

You did not say if you tried the services.msc to Restart Windows Defender again ?

Hi,

Sorry I don't understand?

I started the Security Center via services.msc by clicking on enabled only but I don't find any service related to Windows Defender there.

Or I am missing something?