Interrupted scans and disabled antivirus after Windows Startup Repair

Hello, need help.

My computer froze while my Chrome browser was on and I had to bail out using the power key and Windows Startup Repair ran for my Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit edition. After this, I must say my computer is not acting the same way. Usually, my Acer Aspire 5472Z laptop would always work well whenever it got stuck and I bailed out pressing the power key, but now it seems that it needs to go through the startup repair each time.

It's hanging for longer durations and my Windows Defender would not start until I go into the safe mode. I ran the scan on Windows Defender and it did not detect malware. Same was the case with Spybot S&D, which only pointed out harmless entries associated with usual Windows programs. However, in the normal mode, Spybot S&D is prompted to be out of date.

In Windows Defenser, the original message reads:

A problem caused this program's service to stop. To start the service, click the Start now button or restart your computer.

Interrupted scans and disabled antivirus after Windows Startup Repair


When I try starting Windows Defender service in normal mode, I get this error.

This program's service has stopped. You can start the service manually or restart your computer, which will start the service. (Error Code: 0x800106ba)

The Windows Defender started working in the Normal mode actually but I was left with an uncompleted scan with blue screens of death with some .sys file cited as teh reason.

I also have Avast antivirus installed, the active protection of which would not start as well. I have not tried uninstalling the program yet and have unsuccessfully tried repairing it. Only the Smart Scan would run, which is stuck at 53% at the Home Network Security stage. Programs are frequently hanging up and not responding as well.

When I try scanning in Avast, I get the following error.

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Unable to start scan. There are no more endpoints available in the endpoint mapper.

Currently, I have uninstalled the antivirus and installing in safe mode again, but to no effect.

I cannot restore my system to previous dates as well, though I can access system restore, which is actually a good sign. I can also access the task manager and can start Windows in safe mode and safe mode with networking.

Windows firewall is apparently on and running, but not sure what good is that if I cannot get control of the rest of my system. I do suspect that some malware or virus is at work and cannot be satisfied until I run a boot time scan.

Also, I must mention that, while I know it's idiotic, I only have 5 GB of free disk space left in the usable 452 GB of my 500 GB HDD. I am going to work on that too since memory is always a problem. But I must also explain that my computer has been running in pretty good shape with that sort of disk space remaining for several months, so it surely must not be the problem. The system has 4 GB RAM and a 2 GHz P6100 processer.

Apart from freeing the disk space, any ideas what else I should do? Would appreciate your time and attention.

I really want to fix the problem and return to normal operation without doing something drastic to my OS. Please help.

UPDATE: I have been able to reinstall Avast, but the scans are not being credibly completed in normal mode of Windows. The boot time scan does not run and you can't scan in the safe mode.

Earlier, tried doing it with networking on and everything hangs and no keyboard commands work. Windows explorer disappears. All I see is a dialog box with the title Microsoft Windows. This application is not responding. The program may respond again if you wait. Do you want to end the process? Buttons: End Process, Cancel. In this situation, I am not even able to restart the computer, and I don't want to shut down by pressing the power button to avoid the Windows Repair.

Lately, running scans with wi-fi turned off. Systems acting in a more stable manner. But it's yet to be seen how it continues to behave. Antivirus is the biggest worry at the moment, as well as the possibly well hidden malware. No serious results in Spybot S&D.