Solved Windows Firewall and Windows Security Center can't be started

[townsbg]

Thanks for sharing the information. Viruses can do nasty things including disabling security so the cause is certainly plausible. However you shouldn't depend on windows defender because it is just an anti-spyware. It will become a full anti-virus in Windows 8 but for vista & 7 it is not.

As for registry editing you are correct that it needs to be done very carefully and always with a backup. However it doesn't need to be completely avoided. I will edit it either to tweak it (which can be useful) or to fix a problem however I will only change it when I have read about something others have done. One of the things I always do on a fresh install to edit a registry key that enables num-lock key upon boot up because I hate having to hit it every time I boot up in order to enter my password. However I always look it up first because I can never remember exactly which key it is or what to change the value to. I am careful about it but I don't avoid it. I do not use registry defraggers/optimizers/cleaners because they rarely make much difference and they tend to cause problems. I cringe when I come across a thread where someone has used one and screwed something up. I don't trust any program to automatically do anything with it.

Overall I think that we all learned something.

 

[compheadache]

There's a related thread to one aftereffect of Microsoft's online help:

http://www.sevenforums.com/system-s...onnection-possible-issue-aft-online-help.html

Another aftereffect: in the cleaning process, several "ghost" Microsoft Word files appeared on my desktop (named are "~$FILENAME...") from files I haven't opened in months. My initial concrn was that they'd been looked through, but the rep told me that in the removal process, the "Don't show Hidden files" button changes to "show hidden files." I right-clicked Properties on the files and saw they hadn't been opened or modified for months, so this seems legit.

 

[DruT54]

Thank You Karl!

I just wanted to give a BIG thank you to Karl for giving me back my firewall on Windows 7. I had recently removed some nasty malware/trojan that left me w/no firewall. I followed your steps after spending part of a day filtering through "advice" and it restored my firewall! Much appreciated : )

 

[sparkus88]

Hi I hope this ok the restart this thread but I have the same problem as the op. I have run the windows defender offline and it came back with no problems. Can someone help me? I have attached the WDOlogs file.

Thanks

sparkus88

 

[sparkus88]

I'm a bit of a dumbass just realised this is a forum for windows 7. Will any of the advice in this thread help me on vista?