Comments on: Windows Defender is turned off or not working

By: Abhi Shek

Abhi Shek — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 03:09:00 +0000

Hello,

I lost my windows defender functionality (anti-virus and anti-spyware) and unable to restart it. I know this is because of a malware problem, I’ve tried to remove it, but unable to do so. I tried to edit registry values, running command prompt as admin and tried to start service by typing “sc start windefend enable”
I get an error ” windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source”
Now, is there any way I can fix this without having to wipe everything and reinstall windows? Somebody please help! I’m a novice in these things but I still followed all the steps mentioned in this article and tried all the methods Nothing worked.
PS: REG_DWORD values for “DisableAntiVirus” & “DisableAntiSpyware” are Zero. I tried editing them, even with regownit app, it failed to edit those values.

The article is Very well written and easy to follow. But, my issue is not solved. Can Anybody help me please?

By: wayne reses

wayne reses — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 07:40:00 +0000

No one is going to take the time or effort to “re-register” a whole bunch of cryptic DLLs to get Windows Defender working again. Microsoft NEEDS to automate this process and the sooner the better. Wayne.

By: Gordon Jenkins

Gordon Jenkins — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 20:09:00 +0000

Not useful. Not helpful. Russians shutoff my defender and put in some Russian Kremlin Group mode that I don’t have access to as an administrator of my own computer. They all learned hacking from the NSA and Dr. Evil AKA Mr. Clapper, himself. Just to be fair. Windows needs a “Restore My Defender Now” One Click address. If Russians and their Criminal Mastermind, the Evil Mr. Clapper can do it one click, why the F**K can’t Microsoft???!!!

By: Anand Khanse

Anand Khanse — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 02:25:00 +0000

In reply to Yanir Schwartz.

Glad you could solve your problem. JFYI, Microsoft does not support changing the location of
the Program Files folder. It states that if you change the location of the Program Files
folder, you may experience problems with some Microsoft programs or with
some software updates.

By: Yanir Schwartz

Yanir Schwartz — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 21:09:00 +0000

I’ve installed Windows 10 on a new, relatively small SSD drive. Because of space limitation, I chose my 750GB HDD to contain most programs, therefore I set the program files folder to “D:Program Files”, while C: remains my OS drive. Because Windows Defender relies on registry keys which call “C:Program Files”, (not directly but as a system variable – %ProgramFiles%) it did not work. I then copied the folder C:Program FilesWindows Defender and it’s content to D:Program FilesWindows Defender is and it solved the problem.