Defender Refuses to Stay On

[crashnet]

Everytime I restart my machine I find that defender is off. I can turn it on fine, and it stays on for the remainder of the session.

Service is set to "Automatic (delayed start)". AVG resident shield is OFF (maybe AVG would turn it off since it has its own spyware). I already tried the steps in MS kb555962.

Any suggestions?!

 

[severedsolo]

AVG disables Defender, even if resident shield is off, it still has its own Anti spyware bits running

easy way to test this is to uninstall AVG see if Defender comes on, (does Windows warn you Defender is off? if it doesnt, AVG is doing defenders job)

 

[richc46]

Everytime I restart my machine I find that defender is off. I can turn it on fine, and it stays on for the remainder of the session.

Service is set to "Automatic (delayed start)". AVG resident shield is OFF (maybe AVG would turn it off since it has its own spyware). I already tried the steps in MS kb555962.

Any suggestions?!

I suggest that you use Microsoft Security Essentials. It was made for windows. You definately would not need Defender. If you use MSE and also download Malwarebytes, you would have all the protectetion that you would need.

 

[crashnet]

I suggest that you use Microsoft Security Essentials. It was made for windows. You definately would not need Defender. If you use MSE and also download Malwarebytes, you would have all the protectetion that you would need.

i might do that.... the antispyware in MSE is probably using the same engine as defender, but how does the AV in MSE compare to AVG? how does the memory and CPU footprint of MSE compare to AVG?

also, is it possible to disable MSE completely? I only use AV on demand to keep the machine running faster (have not had an infection of any kind in 9 years)

Thanks

E

 

[crashnet]

AVG disables Defender, even if resident shield is off, it still has its own Anti spyware bits running

easy way to test this is to uninstall AVG see if Defender comes on, (does Windows warn you Defender is off? if it doesnt, AVG is doing defenders job)

didnt do the test, but I will just out of curiosity if I uninstall AVG.

BUT I was under the impression that AVG's "Resident Shield OFF" would disable all its scanning engines.... could it be that the AS still runs and only the AV is disabled?!

 

[Tews]

MSE turns Defender off by default as it is the anti-malware as well as the anti-virus application all in one...

 

[jav]

i might do that.... the antispyware in MSE is probably using the same engine as defender, but how does the AV in MSE compare to AVG? how does the memory and CPU footprint of MSE compare to AVG?

also, is it possible to disable MSE completely? I only use AV on demand to keep the machine running faster (have not had an infection of any kind in 9 years)

Thanks

E

yes, You can turn off MSE's real-time protection

 

[crashnet]

MSE turns Defender off by default as it is the anti-malware as well as the anti-virus application all in one...

thanks, but that wasnt one of the questions.

 

[jav]

thanks, but that wasnt one of the questions.

oh, I see.
ok, I haven't done it myself. Turning off all it's services and process is possible aswell.

Wilders Security Forums - View Single Post - Do I actually need an Antivirus on my netbook?

This is what I've done on my system: as admin install MSE as normal, msconfig and uncheck MSE, in search box access system services with ' services.msc ' hit enter, disable the ' microsoft antimalware service '. There are still a couple of MSE startup items that will in startup that you can untick using autoruns ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx)

After you reboot there will be no processes, services, or anything running from MSE. You can switch to your admin account when you want to run a scan, enable the MSE service, update MSE and run a scan whenever you want, then re-disable the service and untick the MSE entries in autoruns, reboot and its completely disabled. I like MSE's detection & removal capabilities and having at least an AV installed so I don't completely rely upon online scanners.

BTW, I previously used a similar process with AVG, but AVG had several services & startup items to disable, and had about 9 entries hidden in autoruns compared to 2 in MSE (one for MSE and on for the right click 'scan on contect feature), also MSE only requires 1 service to run, making it a very light light program even with its default configuration when compared to other scanners.

So, as you can see, according to this person he already did it.
I can't guarantee anything, But I suppose it will not cause any harm.

 

[Corrine]

Everytime I restart my machine I find that defender is off. I can turn it on fine, and it stays on for the remainder of the session.

i might do that.... the antispyware in MSE is probably using the same engine as defender, but how does the AV in MSE compare to AVG? how does the memory and CPU footprint of MSE compare to AVG?

also, is it possible to disable MSE completely? I only use AV on demand to keep the machine running faster (have not had an infection of any kind in 9 years)

Thanks

E

The MSE anti-malware defs are the same as Windows Defender and the antivirus defs are the same as the Forfront.

You have me confused. From your first post which was about Windows Defender not on to your last which was asking about disabling MSE sounds like a contradiction to me.

MSE will not slow down your computer any more -- in fact less -- than AVG.

 

[Greg S]

thanks, but that wasnt one of the questions.

oh, I see.
ok, I haven't done it myself. Turning off all it's services and process is possible aswell.

Wilders Security Forums - View Single Post - Do I actually need an Antivirus on my netbook?

This is what I've done on my system: as admin install MSE as normal, msconfig and uncheck MSE, in search box access system services with ' services.msc ' hit enter, disable the ' microsoft antimalware service '. There are still a couple of MSE startup items that will in startup that you can untick using autoruns ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx)

After you reboot there will be no processes, services, or anything running from MSE. You can switch to your admin account when you want to run a scan, enable the MSE service, update MSE and run a scan whenever you want, then re-disable the service and untick the MSE entries in autoruns, reboot and its completely disabled. I like MSE's detection & removal capabilities and having at least an AV installed so I don't completely rely upon online scanners.

BTW, I previously used a similar process with AVG, but AVG had several services & startup items to disable, and had about 9 entries hidden in autoruns compared to 2 in MSE (one for MSE and on for the right click 'scan on contect feature), also MSE only requires 1 service to run, making it a very light light program even with its default configuration when compared to other scanners.

So, as you can see, according to this person he already did it.
I can't guarantee anything, But I suppose it will not cause any harm.

I haven't read the tip but it seems pointless to do. Once one starts a scan or right click scan, all the services and protection are re-activated to their normal default state. Not to mention, if you disable anything within MSE, Windows will gripe about it although one could disable that warning very easily.

 

[jav]

I haven't read the tip but it seems pointless to do. Once one starts a scan or right click scan, all the services and protection are re-activated to their normal default state. Not to mention, if you disable anything within MSE, Windows will gripe about it although one could disable that warning very easily.

Shouldn't, If you put services to start manually.
So after restart all services should be off again.

 

[crashnet]

You have me confused. From your first post which was about Windows Defender not on to your last which was asking about disabling MSE sounds like a contradiction to me.

i can see why you would get confused. the OP is about Defender. but as the thread progressed i considered ditching AVG (and defender) and installing MSE.

thanks!

 

[crashnet]

Shouldn't, If you put services to start manually.
So after restart all services should be off again.

I don't use resident scanners and its a pain to have to deactivate them. If everytime i do a right click scan i have to stop those services manually its reason enough to stay away from MSE...

anyone else confirm this behavior?

thanks! there is a reason this forum comes up #1 for windows 7 related topics on google

 

[crashnet]

AVG disables Defender, even if resident shield is off, it still has its own Anti spyware bits running

I confirm this behavior to be true. First restart after AVG was uninstalled I found Defender ON.

I'm going to stick with MSE for now. MSE proved superior to AVG on EVERY aspect, as tested by AV-Comparatives - Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software - Welcome to AV-Comparatives.org

 

[severedsolo]

AVG is also notorius for coming out with false positives, i cant link to the test, as its on a torrent website, and i think id be dicing with the rules a little, but the general concensus is that AVG uses mainly Heuristic behaviour detectors, which are a little tightly wound,

its a little odd that your Windows was warning you defender was disabled though, when i had AVG it just said that i had antispyware installed and it was fine, but i had the resident shield on

 

[Greg S]

Shouldn't, If you put services to start manually.
So after restart all services should be off again.

If everytime i do a right click scan i have to stop those services manually its reason enough to stay away from MSE...

anyone else confirm this behavior?

jav, yes I agree, a restart would place the services in the state they are manually set to. crashnet, yes to you. I've already mentioned this. Right click scan, be it a file folder or drive will place the services back to their default state and will not change back until you restart, as mentioned, or go back into services manually before restart and disable them which is very inconvenient.

Edit: Ok, I've finally taken the time to read the link jav points to. This person is essentially saying the same thing I'm saying here. Services and settings will have to be re-disabled after any kind of scan.

 

[Corrine]

. . .
I only use AV on demand to keep the machine running faster (have not had an infection of any kind in 9 years)

I'm going to stick with MSE for now. MSE proved superior to AVG on EVERY aspect, as tested by AV-Comparatives - Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software - Welcome to AV-Comparatives.org

Particularly based on your earlier comment, I am very happy to see your decision.

 

[BWK]

As for disabling information collection by MSE, Is there any way of doing so. That was why I didn't continue to use it. It wanted to much information sent back to them. that's just unnecessary bandwidth. I personally am not into the snooping of others information, I will voluntarily submit information to better a product but to just have it taken without consent just seems wrong. It's kind of like Googles snooping with our browsing habits.
As I stated I am all for volunteering information, but to just come and take it from me is in my eyes wrong.

 

[jav]

As for disabling information collection by MSE, Is there any way of doing so. That was why I didn't continue to use it. It wanted to much information sent back to them. that's just unnecessary bandwidth. I personally am not into the snooping of others information, I will voluntarily submit information to better a product but to just have it taken without consent just seems wrong. It's kind of like Googles snooping with our browsing habits.
As I stated I am all for volunteering information, but to just come and take it from me is in my eyes wrong.

You can't.
It would be violation of Terms of Use MSE

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/privacy.aspx#mainNav

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