I can't open or use Windows Defender on my Windows 10 anymore

basicbunny said:

I managed to get a virus to my laptop. It didn't affect as badly as it could've though, and the laptop works quite well. Anyways, after that I loaded some virus detecting/antivirus programs (malwarebytes, zemana & hitmanpro) to make sure that the laptop is clean. I had the windows defender already (made the first detecting with it) and did read that it'd be good to have at least that as the default and malwarebytes at the same time.

Well it didn't work. After loading the other programs I couldn't get the windows defender activated and any scanning done. Then I deleted all the other antiviruses/detecters I Ioaded earlier, which should've helped. After that the windows defender didn't even open. I tried to open it in the safe mode but still nothing. Couldn't do offline scanning either.

Any tips how to get the windows defender to work at this point?

Hi, basicbunny,

First question:. When you days you deleted the 3rd party solutions you used, were those actually installed, or just run from, day, a .ZIP file that you extracted?

If any of them were installed, did you go through the uninstall process(es) for each one?

basicbunny said:

I managed to get a virus to my laptop. It didn't affect as badly as it could've though, and the laptop works quite well. Anyways, after that I loaded some virus detecting/antivirus programs (malwarebytes, zemana & hitmanpro) to make sure that the laptop is clean. I had the windows defender already (made the first detecting with it) and did read that it'd be good to have at least that as the default and malwarebytes at the same time.

Well it didn't work. After loading the other programs I couldn't get the windows defender activated and any scanning done. Then I deleted all the other antiviruses/detecters I Ioaded earlier, which should've helped. After that the windows defender didn't even open. I tried to open it in the safe mode but still nothing. Couldn't do offline scanning either.

Any tips how to get the windows defender to work at this point?

Hi basicbunny and welcome to Tenforums.
After you answer johngalt's questions, you could have a look at this tutorial, and try turning on Defender using the registry setting in Option #2:

Turn On or Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Security System Tutorials

See if that helps.

Try this: Download and run as admin, then PC will restart.

[Batch] Windows Defender Enable - Pastebin.com