Windows Defender history keeps empty

  • Thread starter Thread starter Christian Schröder
  • Start date Start date
C

Christian Schröder

Hello!

Hope someone will be so nice to help me. I am no native english speaker,
so please excuse errors. :)

I use Vista Home Premium 32 bit, my
Win Defender Version is 1.1.1505.0
Moduleversion: 1.1.3301.0
Definitionversion: 1.29.7418.0

Since I have deleted the history of Win Defender, it keeps empty, even
if I get alerts like "Adobe Reader changed Autostart" or whatever. My
history is always empty.

I tried to download and install Win Defender (WindowsDefender.msi) but
the installer tells me "there is no need to install Defender since it is
part of Vista".

Please help, how can I get my Defender History working again or
reinstall or repair it.

Thanks, Christian Schröder
 
Are you running a registry cleaner?

There are settings in some registry cleaners which will have this effect.
 
Thank you for your reply Mr. Sanderson. :)

No, I don't run any registry cleaner. Is there a way to repair the Win
Defender or reinstall it? Or maybe a registry key to enable the Defender
history?

Thank you very much for your help!

C.S.
 
I've re-read your message, and my thought now is that perhaps you are
describing a normal situation--i.e. history SHOULD be empty, in your case.

I think a way to test this would be to use the EICAR virus test string.

This is found here:

http://www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm

about half-way down the page is a short ascii text string--that is EICAR.

You may need to disable both Windows Defender and your antivirus in order to
create a file containing that string. Once created, you can use it to test
scanning by antivirus or Windows Defender.

This is absolutely safe--there's no danger in this test string--it is just a
mutually agreed upon mechanim for testing anti-malware scanners.

I believe that a scan which finds this will register in History. Lesser
things, like those you've listed, are, I believe, noted in log entries in
the Windows System log file, but not in history.
 
Dear Mr. Sanderson!

You were right on the spot! Thank you, now my problem is solved thanks
to you. The eicar.com file created an entry in the Win Defender history,
so it seems to work like it should and I even found where to look for
the smaller occurences like "Adobe Reader changed autostart" and such,
they are in the Windows logs and I can check them too now to please my
paranoia. ;)

I am very happy and thankful. Have a great weekend. Case closed, thanks! :)

C.S.
 
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