Windows 7 Defender. Where's it At?

[Gaby Martin]

Hey. I have been having significant issues with Windows. With the assistance from a couple of individuals very involved in the Forum and extremely knowledgeable, slowly some things are coming together. I just uninsalled Norton and was provided with a link to acquire MSE. So, now I have MSE, Anti-Malwarebytes and Defender. When MSE got completely on my laptop, I ran it and did the same with Anti-Malewarebytes, both of which came back with a clean bill of health although you would never know from my laptop's behavior. I then went to run Defender and the first text box that came up said that Defender was off and that if other security programs were running, to go to the Action Center to check their status. Also, if I wanted to turn it on to click on the link. I click on the click and another text box came up advising that Defender was not on and I could restart my computer to make it start or I could manually start it. That language was followed by an error warning giving a series of numbers, which of course I didn't write down. I restarted the laptop and again, I got one of those boxes. This time I went to where Defender lives to see if I could start it that way. No luck. I clicked on the Defender icon and nothing happened. One of the text boxes (not the error one) had opened at some point This time when I clicked on the start link, the little wheel next to the cursor which is usually indicative that a program/application was in the process of starting just turned and turned, and Defender did not open. When I again clicked on the Defender icon, nothing happened. I restarted the laptop and I'm pretty sure it was the Defender icon that I clicked and was advised the program was already running which was followed by one the boxes saying it wasn't on. I don't know if its on, if it's off, or if it's vacationing. I do know that it will not open. It's like it's just a shell, but I saw it had all its parts (I think) when I visited it's home. I'm sure it's pretty evident, but I have absolutely no idea what's happening and needless to say, what to do. Therefore, I'm eliciting your expert computer programming knowledge.and Windows 7 expertise to see if you can assist me in my endeavors at fixing yet another of my problems. Thanks a whole bunch.

 

[davidhk129]

@ Gaby Martin,

MSE ( Microsoft Security Essentials ) has its own defender. Having 2 defenders running in the same machine will create conflicts, not to mention redundancy.
MSE, therefore, is supposed to turn Windows Defender off. This is NORMAL.
You are ok. Don't try to turn Windows Defender on.

 

[Gaby Martin]

@ Gaby Martin,

MSE ( Microsoft Security Essentials ) has its own defender. Having 2 defenders running in the same machine will create conflicts, not to mention redundancy.
MSE, therefore, is supposed to turn Windows Defender off. This is NORMAL.
You are ok. Don't try to turn Windows Defender on.

t
Hey. Thanks a bunch. I feel like a dummy. I don't know this stuff so I have tons of questions because I would like to learn. I have a marginal understanding of this, but marginal does me no good. Do you think it would be okay if I posted all of my questions in one post? I have something like 7 or 8, maybe less, but not more. Again, thank you very much for letting me in on this. No one told me when I was provided with MSE that it had its own Defender. And I won't try to turn Windows Defender on; I wasn't able to anyway. I noticed you said there would be conflicts running 2 defenders. It is interesting to me that all of the problems I'm experiencing started right after I uninstalled the anti virus software I had loaded: AVG, McAfee, Kapersky and Norton later on. I thought I would be super protected if I ran 3 and later 4 anti virus programs at the same time and surprising was. I had absolutely no problems whatsoever. It wasn't until someone sort of scared me about having 4 programs that essentially did the same thing running concurrently that I took them off. My problems began shortly thereafter and I can't shake them and that's even after reinstalling Windows 7. Now you know why I have so many questions. Have an awesome day!

 

[davidhk129]

quote...........I thought I would be super protected if I ran 3 and later 4 anti virus programs at the same time and surprising was. I had absolutely no problems whatsoever. It wasn't until someone sort of scared me about having 4 programs that essentially did the same thing running concurrently that I took them off.

Advice given to you is absolutely correct.
You must not install and run multiple anti-virus programs. Conflicts will begin and you will be actually less protected than having only one AV.

RE : Do you think it would be okay if I posted all of my questions in one post? I have something like 7 or 8, maybe less, but not more.
I am new to this forum, so I don't know for sure.
However, the general rule of thumb is..... one question, one post. That is to avoid confusions. Logical, yes?

 

[davidhk129]

RE : It is interesting to me that all of the problems I'm experiencing started right after I uninstalled the anti virus software I had loaded: Link Removed, Link Removed, Kapersky and Link Removed later on. I thought I would be super protected if I ran 3 and later 4 anti virus programs at the same time and surprising was. I had absolutely no problems whatsoever. It wasn't until someone sort of scared me about having 4 programs that essentially did the same thing running concurrently that I took them off. My problems began shortly thereafter and I can't shake them and that's even after reinstalling Windows 7.

Please post to Windows Security forum.
http://windowsforum.com/forums/windows-security.64/
Make sure you describe the problems clearly and concisely.
If there were error messages, post them with your question.

 

[Gaby Martin]

quote...........I thought I would be super protected if I ran 3 and later 4 anti virus programs at the same time and surprising was. I had absolutely no problems whatsoever. It wasn't until someone sort of scared me about having 4 programs that essentially did the same thing running concurrently that I took them off.

Advice given to you is absolutely correct.
You must not install and run multiple anti-virus programs. Conflicts will begin and you will be actually less protected than having only one AV.

RE : Do you think it would be okay if I posted all of my questions in one post? I have something like 7 or 8, maybe less, but not more.
I am new to this forum, so I don't know for sure.
However, the general rule of thumb is..... one question, one post. That is to avoid confusions. Logical, yes?

Hey again. That makes absolute sense This is going to sound so vacuous, but do you that that by posting that many different posts I'm going to be thought of as a complete idiot? I do not know why that is important, really. My own thinking was that if I put all the questions on one post, my name wouldn't keep coming up on different posts which would cause my name to appear repetitively thereby calling attention to myself resulting in other people to think I'm a complete moron. (how is that for a sentence?) I know,that is totally ridiculous and that's what my brain says but that's not what I feel. You do not have to answer my asinine question. And thank you for your reply. I know that what you're telling me is the proper way to do what I need to do. I just don't want my picture posted on the Idiot of the Week wall.

 

[davidhk129]

There are no stupid questions. Just people who don't ask.

 

[Gaby Martin]

There are no stupid questions. Just people who don't ask.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to tell my kids that there was no such thing as a stupid question but didn't follow it up with "just people who don't ask." They seemed to believe that adage because they were incessantly asking questions. Did I believe that, no way . As it concerns this site. I do not wish to be known as "that Windows Forum groupie" because I'm always hanging out in the general discussion forum, the most popular site (I don't know if that's true) to pick up information. I am extremely reticent only when it comes to questions directed at individuals who make Stephen Hawing look amateurish.and sophomoric. Now , If I ask "if E = Mc2 then why does McE-21+2 a, with a differential orbital nexus performing at 7500 amperes rotating on an axis placed at 75Lon.-82L, that puts the mechanical unit 2

km from the rotational plutonium reactors, prove to be an equation that is determanative of the functionality of the spacial induction units that have been housed in the basalt staging area? . These units, when fully operational, contain the metallurgical footprint that is relative to the extinction of plant life on Plant X5-77, and that contain the basis for the anomaly that generates an excess of geothermal energy in unit X-R2, the natur
[qudeote="davidhk129, post: 326448, member: 60783"]There are no stupid questions. Just people who don't ask.[/quote]
have NITWIT (National Institute of Technology in association with the Washington Institute of Technology) conduct a regional computerized assessment to determine if the opitimal degree of polarization was achieved.
Oh dear. I did not know that this would separate as it did. No harm, it's just that I ihad messed wodith thr pragraphs so that when I senT the 2--3 line message to you it wouldn't hae my stuff was messing around and what I was doing I think may have posted. I'm now trying to be a writer, no,yone wait a sec, anaonr anyono who writes for the run of it, for money, for school, etc. is a writer, so iI'm onr too, just a comedy writer, and someone suggested that I get some serious-like memos, reports, writings that are of a technical, medical or any of the fields that end in CAL and see if I could "humorize" (that's my word, I invented it) them. Not necessarily technical, just something I would play with.So far,things have gpne well. Ithink what I wrote up top is pretty funny. I made myself laugh, which is a good thing. I obviously
laugh initiall. I think I'm nuts! I really have no idea where this stuff comes from. My scientific equation is so good, I've impressed myself,I write well and am very humorous, I am told. I hopr they weren't joshing.

I'm so sorry. I hope I haven't offended you or anything llke that. I was gpojg to take my scientic equation off thid paper and save it in Word but instead I postrf almost thr whole thing. There's another long scientic papr.

because of the separation I w as ablw to see how thr material progress and man, did it progress. I can go and go and go on. What was a reasonably well written piece that had me laugh had bocomr thid long drawn out scientic report. It stopped bring funn anymorrWhen ai hit thr post button, the psrapraphs separated and didd a littlr moving around independently. I realized my scientific equation got posted. I(Incidentally, I just realized that I wasreferring to my writtrn material, like it was s

 

[Gaby Martin]

Hi David, I see you've been sending your big fish after me to scare me sufficiently that I provide feedback on the suggestions issue, I was involved in a very bad car accident last Wednesday in which I should have died or been very seriously injured. My only injury was an insignificant cut on one of my fingers. It is very anti-climatic in relation to what occurred. I know that it was divine intervention that kept me out of harms way. As a result of what transpired I have been extremely shaken and having such bad nightmares I'm afraid to sleep so I'm barely sleeping. That of course causes me to experience periods of extreme confusion. I tell you this so that you understand it may take me a couple of more days before I can properly address your fish. My head is still not thinking clearly, not due to injury but because of the emotions that are overwhelming at times. I went to see the "equation" I had written and there were only 2 lines. If you have the complete "equation" would you please send it to me. As I recall ,iI found it to be extremely clever and quite funny. I would like to make it a part of my portfolio so if you've got the whole thing, it would mean a lot if you shot a copy to me. I'm not saying that it was phenomenal, but it was written on the spur of the moment. I know I need a lot of polish and more experience writing different types of comedic material, Considering the many obstacles I will face in undertaking this endeavor, I think I'm ready to face those difficult situations with aplomb and confidence..

Oh my. You must think I'm completely out of my gourd. That's not a fish, is it? I swear that II thought it was a great big bass. I am laughing so hard right now.. I just went back to look at whatever that is and I still see a fish that looks to be out of water, You look at it and then tell me I'm out in right field, center field, left field, whatever., just a field but not thE Field of Dreams, okay. Um, I think there might be something serioiusly wrong with me and I don't mean from the accident. I mean like I'mhmentally defective.

Incidentally, you know those problems I was having with things moving, words being changed,? They are worse now. The reason this looks so week is because me typing speed is ridiculously slow and I'm typing in increments. This was I'm not always looking for the cursor , making corrections that change anyway. At least this way I know what I AM saying. I don't know if sentences have moved or are incomplete. I am not going back to see. I'm going to hang out with the fisH.




















I h

 

[Gaby Martin]

There are no stupid questions. Just people who don't ask.

I do have the complete "equation". It's just that some of it is mixed in with other text. Please disregard my request. Thanks.

 

[Pauli]

I do not wish to be known as "that Windows Forum groupie" because I'm always hanging out in the general discussion forum, the most popular site (I don't know if that's true) to pick up information.

Can't see the danger for that. This is a pretty adult Forum, members do understand. Freely express, period.

 

[PhyllisColeman]

I do have the complete "equation". It's just that some of it is mixed in with other text. Please disregard my request. Thanks.

are you serious !

 

[Gaby Martin]

are you serious !

I am seldom serious but in this situation I most certainly was. Was there a problem? Please let me know if I've committed a faux pas or if I somehow offended your sensibilities. If the answer to either of those is in the affirmative, please accept my humble apologies. I am both a dilettante and reprobate; hence I have few, if any, redeeming qualities. As a consequence, I frequently find that I am extricating myself from the morass and precarious entanglements in which I have placed myself.

Can't see the danger for that. This is a pretty adult Forum, members do understand. Freely express, period.

Hey you. I did not drop off the face of the earth. Due to some domestic issues, I have been unable to access the internet, both by laptop and phone. I remedied that situation yesterday, and as they say, I am up and running. I had been using this laptop. (The preceding sentence was not put there by me and I have no idea where I intended it to go. This is explained in the following sentence.) Although my typing is coming out fine, I must type really slowly so I can watch the cursor as it takes 3-5 letters I am in the process of typing and inserts them in some other word in the text and even moves entire sentences. It is truly maddening). I am pretty certain that I will have to do a "clean" reinstall, whatever that is, within the next few days. At this point, I would jump off the Golden Gate Bridge (it's close, it's convenient, and there's now barriers to keep the jumpers off, so I think if I jump I'd only go maybe 3 feet) to get this piece of garbage fixed once and for all. Apparently, when Windows was reinstalled about 6 weeks ago, it was not a "clean" reinstall (whatever that is). I guess it has something to do with reinstalling some of the bad stuff I was trying to eliminate. You probably know as you are learned in this area. What I'm on my way to do is buy some stuff so that I can move from where I'm at and to purchase an external hard drive or big enough flash drive so I can offload the stuff I wish to retain. You probably know the answer to the following: I've been doing everything instructed to repair my laptop's many problems. Is there some reason to wait to do a reinstallation? Is it bad to do more than one reinstallation? I ask because when I reinstalled last time, I let the hundreds (may 300-400) media files I had loaded to be deleted. I chose to do that for the sake of fun, really. I wanted to locate them again and see if there were any other files similar to the one I was going to download so that I could download that as well. Now, I had a bunch of media files, as I said, but had used only about 2/3 of my hard drive space. I reinstall Windows and begin reloading what I had deleted. I think I only downloaded maybe 150 files and my hard drive only has about 60 GB left, substantially less than what I had before. So, my other question is: Do you lose hard drive space every reinstallation? And is that the reason, if any exists, that reinstallation is used as a last resort?

Okay, then. I look forward to "chatting" soon,. Hope you're having a great day!

Can't see the danger for that. This is a pretty adult Forum, members do understand. Freely express, period.

0

 

[Pauli]

Howdy.

I wouldn't support the Golden Gate Bridge option. Even if it would be only 3 feet. You need no feet to stay in this Forum. Heh.

Doing an installation, just re-installing Windows isn't enough to clean your disk(s) from some "hostile" residues. You need to clean the disk to the state it had when first leaving the factory = empty. You need to do a low format = zero format of the disk; all information on a disk is written in form of 1 and 0, so it's like 110000111000001111000 etc., hope I didn't write anything bad there! When zero formatting, the disk is written full with zeros, thus there is nothing to be found. Not even Secret Services can find there anything, as it's all empty.

The most certain tool to do this is usually provided by your HDD manufacturer, like Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung. It's preferred to use the manufacturer's tools. There are also many third party tools, you can find them in search for "Zero format" or "Low level format", but I highly recommend to look at manufacturer pages first. If you can't find anything there, check the Internet, and you're, of course, free to ask me - and the Big Ones here certainly know a lot more than I.

Re-installation does take some disk space. But in your case, with the problems you seem to have had, I would definitely recommend a new disk or total low format. That leaves the disk empty > if you want data saved, it has to be transferred before you start the process, to another disk. The best would be a USB external?

Not knowing exactly what hoodlums you may have had, you might want to change your IP, http://www.wikihow.com/Acquire-a-New-IP-Address not necessarily that easy.

 

[Gaby Martin]

Howdy.

I wouldn't support the Golden Gate Bridge option. Even if it would be only 3 feet. You need no feet to stay in this Forum. Heh.

Doing an installation, just re-installing Windows isn't enough to clean your disk(s) from some "hostile" residues. You need to clean the disk to the state it had when first leaving the factory = empty. You need to do a low format = zero format of the disk; all information on a disk is written in form of 1 and 0, so it's like 110000111000001111000 etc., hope I didn't write anything bad there! When zero formatting, the disk is written full with zeros, thus there is nothing to be found. Not even Secret Services can find there anything, as it's all empty.

The most certain tool to do this is usually provided by your HDD manufacturer, like Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung. It's preferred to use the manufacturer's tools. There are also many third party tools, you can find them inn't find anything there, check the Internet, and you're, of course, free to ask me - and the Big Ones here certainly know a lot more than I.

Re-installation does take some disk spacee But in your case, with the problems you seem to have had, I would definitely recommend a new disk or total low format. That leaves the disk empty > if you want data saved, it has to be transferred before you start the process, to another disk. The best would be a USB external?

Not knowing exactly what hoodlums you may have had, you might want to change your IP, http://www.wikihow.com/Acquire-a-New-IP-Address not necessarily that easy.

Hi you. Thanks so much for the informative and comprehensive post. So, you think I should nix the Golden Gate Bridge? Oh man!! It is just over the Bay Bridge, which I would have travel over to get to the Golden Gate, so the proximity makes it oh so convenient. But, you know, I've decided that I'm going to fix this thing and if it kills mle, then it kills me, but I wouldn't to travel. I would just die right there, in front of "me ole lappie." I'm not going to let it win, though. I shall overcome and be victorious feet(if it doesn't kill me). And I'll get to keep my feet even if none are required. I kind of like my little feet.

I was in the middle of doing stuff related to my current personal situation, which really stinks, when I saw your post. I perused it rather quickly and did not pay it as close attention as I should have, but it's almost 3:00 a.m. and I want to sleep. So, first thing, I will read it thoroughly. There were parts that I read that I know I will need to ask questions about. One thing you should know, the reinstallation that happened 6-7 weeks ago was done by me with the assistance of a tech from HP, the manufacturer. So, I was walked through it. I certainly will not have that luxury this time around. This has made me look up how to do a clean install. The following site caught my attention:

http://lifehacker.com/5983652/how-t...without-losing-your-files-settings-and-tweaks

Would you take a quick look at it and let me know what you think? If you can think of an instructive site to aid me in this endeavor, please let me know.

Okay, it is almost 3:00 a.m. on the dot. No, wait, it's 3:00 right now! I must rest my weary eyes. I will catch you tomorrow. Incidentally, they call me Gaby. I don't think your name is Titanic. If that's what they call you, that's cool and I shall too. But if not, what do they call you? It's 3:04 right now. That's how long it has taken me to type 3 sentences.

 

[Pauli]

Well, my name is Pauli, it's the Finnish for Paul, with an i at the end. If you want to, you can check my membership here, just click my username Titanic.

Even if you seem to have reached a way to write proper messages, which wasn't really the case earlier, I wouldn't take it that lightly. The thread you mention is a normal one, very good, but living with my reasoning, I do suspect you may have a hacker running after you. Not creating any conspiracy theories, be they private or governmental, you need to cut them once and for all. And that needs some drastic measures, like low = zero formatting. To get it properly done, you need to do it properly.

I sure don't know if you're a criminal worth to be wanted, You did mention IRS, but I sure hope you get it all fixed. I'm not a true supporter of so-called Officials. Go figure...

,

 

[Gaby Martin]

Well, my name is Pauli, it's the Finnish for Paul, with an i at the end. If you want to, you can check my membership here, just click my username Titanic.

Even if you seem to have reached a way to write proper messages, which wasn't really the case earlier, I wouldn't take it that lightly. The thread you mention is a normal one, very good, but living with my reasoning, I do suspect you may have a hacker running after you. Not creating any conspiracy theories, be they private or governmental, you need to cut them once and for all. And that needs some drastic measures, like low = zero formatting. To get it properly done, you need to do it properly.

I sure don't know if you're a criminal worth to be wanted, You did mention IRS, but I sure hope you get it all fixed. I'm not a true supporter of so-called Officials. Go figure...

,

Pauli, my life just gets more interesting by the minute. When I mentioned the IRS (not my favorite entity), it was from them that I learned someone had assumed my identity. Before the agent spoke to me about the situation, I had to be vetted. That took almost an hour. When I was properly identified as me and not that other person, I learned that someone in Florida (where I've never been) had filed tax returns for 2 years in my name, using my SSN and had taken the IRS for $15,000 or so. Last year, "I" received a $9,000 refund (now that would have been sweet). The IRS was now attempting to collect the money erroneously paid out and was sending notices to "me" in this Floridian city. I just happened to find out about this when a governmental check I received was short $300 or so. So, that's what made me call them because the reference to the shortage was related to the IRS. What the most interesting part of this whole adventure of being Gaby is that I owe the IRS a few dollars and I pay them like clockwork. How in the world they paid out that much money to "me" when I was in their debt is still a mystery. And the fact that it took 2 years for them to figure it out just astounds me. Don't they sound like a bunch of morons? Everything got worked out but I was getting afraid that they were going to come after me for something I was not involved in. And even more interesting to me, at least, is why me, I have jack and I don't think they could acquire my good looks by just pretending to be me, don't you agree? The IRS frightens me a bit. They are omnipotent and they exercise their power randomly. You never know when it's going to be your turn. And it doesn't happen to the wealthy, just people who are struggling like me. I guess I sound resentful when I really should be grateful that the identity problem was solved.

Now, about the engineering problem that seems to be the current bane of my existence. Those who are helping me are very knowledgeable and possess much acumen where computers are concerned. I am being provided with various sets of instructions to try to see if the problems can be fixed. Wouldn't it just be easier to do a clean reinstall? Everything I've read on clean reinstalls seems to encourage the practice to get rid of icky stuff but more importantly, to provide you with a computer that has just come off the line. Let's call it a virgin. That's what it would be, right? And, it doesn't sound like if you repeat the practice yearly you're damaging the computer. It's better than system restore, which was like my best friend before I came onto the scene. Very important question coming up: For the last reinstall I did about 6-7 weeks ago, I was walked through it by techs from the manufacturer. This one coming up I will be doing alone. How do I go about doing it? Do I read instructions from the internet and write them down so I have them when doing this? Could I screw my laptop if I made an error somewhere (not that I'm going to, it's a "what if")?

Thanks a bunch for your email, It made me chuckle. OMG, I'm about to throw this thing out the window. You're not seeing all of the mistakes that are being made since I'm correcting them as they come up. But I just read this email and there were so many words missing not to mention that I got kicked off 3 times and had this post move up and down I don't know how many times. It is a good thing I save as I go. Every time I was kicked off or moved, the text wasn't there. I think I'm losing my mind.

 

[Pauli]

By the e-mail, you do mean my post here, on this Forum? It's been my sole contact with you - if you mean some other e-mail, it's not from me. Except for the short message I gave on your Profile.

To get your system working, I honestly think you need to get it low = zero formatted. Not really a big deal, takes some time, but ensures you have a clean platform to install your OS on. Bluntly, that's what I would do.

And please, don't loose your mind. Seems far too pretty to be lost.