Windows Defender is turned off/There are no new definitions availa

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Guest

I have just bought a DELL PC, running Windows Vista Ultimate and I've
uninstalled Norton's.

When I log on I have a popup:
"Check your antispyware software status"
"Windows Defender is turned off."
"Click this notification to fix the problem."

I click the notification which opens up Windows Security Center. In the
Malware protection area it says that Windows Defender is turned off. I click
the button that says "Turn on now". I say yes at the UAC screen. Windows
then goes and searches for definitions - "Security Center is updating
definitions for Windows Defender". This then comes back as "There are no new
definitions available for Windows Defender." That's it. Windows Defender is
still turned off.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to resolve this?


Thanks,

James.
 
What antivirus do you plan to substitute for Norton?

If you run Windows Defender, and go to Tools, Options, and scroll to the
bottom of the list, what is checked or not checked?
 
Hi Bill,

I am not planning on using any other anti-virus. I found with my XP machine
that the latest Microsoft patches and Windows Defender was all that I
required. I've run without anti-virus software for years and have never had
any problem. (Pre Defender I used Spybot and Adaware)

In Windows Defender, Tools, Options almost everything is checked:
Automatic scanning - all checked
Default actions - all default
Real-time protection options - all checked except for "Choose if Windows
Defender should notify you about" - both unchecked.
Advanced options - all checked
Administrator options - all checked

So it appears that Windows Defender is running, but I still get the security
notification.

Thanks,

James.
 
I too am having the exact same issue. Go to try and "Turn on Now" in the
Security Center and it checks for updates and tells me there are no new
updates. Defender says it is working fine when I open it manually, but the
Security Center still says it's not turned on.
 
OK after some further digging through these forums I discovered a fix:

1.Set the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Service to "Disabled" and
then Stop it.

2.Delete the folder C:\Windows\System32\wbem\repository

3.Set WMI service to Automatic and then Start it.

4. Reboot.

Windows Defender showed up as "On" in the security center for me after these
steps.
 
Thanks this worked perfectly. Running Vista, suddenly the Security Center
started saying that Windows Defender was off and it couldn't find my
AntiVirus (AVG) which had both been detected before.
 
Thanks for the fix warnellg!

warnellg said:
OK after some further digging through these forums I discovered a fix:

1.Set the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Service to "Disabled" and
then Stop it.

2.Delete the folder C:\Windows\System32\wbem\repository

3.Set WMI service to Automatic and then Start it.

4. Reboot.

Windows Defender showed up as "On" in the security center for me after these
steps.
Click to expand...
 
warnellg said:
I too am having the exact same issue. Go to try and "Turn on Now" in the
Security Center and it checks for updates and tells me there are no new
updates. Defender says it is working fine when I open it manually, but the
Security Center still says it's not turned on.
Click to expand...
 
Hi warnellg,
I have been having the same problem with my computer and your post was very
helpful. Could you please show me how to access WMI? Where do I go on my PC
to access this information to disable. Also where do I go to delete the
folder?
Thanks in advance :-)
 
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