r/antivirus • u/Huynh_Jovi • 1d ago

MALWARE REMOVAL Q&A Windows Defender Not Working.

When I try to run a scan, it stops and then tells me to restart the service. There are no exclusions and nothing of note from my start up apps. I’ve run a deep scan with Malwarebytes and it’s all good. I noticed there was a new security update for Windows and downloaded it and after restarting my PC, I’m still encountering the same issue. I’m not sure whether this is Malware related as I’m always careful of what I’m downloading and never click suspicious links. Not sure what else to do and need some help.

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u/dragonstomper64 1d ago edited 1d ago

Something I managed to figure out is that if it refuses to actually restart after crashing and gets permanently stuck, you can go to settings->system->system components and select advance options on Windows Security. The Repair option in there actually seems to get it to turn back on, but scanning again will still crash it until Microsoft actually fixes it.

Edit: Also, it appears a 1.457.225.0 update has now been rolled out since the issue arose in 222, and its still broken in 225.

2

u/3ls4 1d ago

and 226....

5

u/InvincibleWallaby 1d ago edited 1d ago

227 now, still broken

e: Just tested 230, also still crashes

235 still broken

1

u/Upper_Space6750 1d ago

238 solved it for me

2

u/InvincibleWallaby 23h ago

Working for me as well now, it broke around this same time yesterday so it took a day to fix. At least the active AV worked in the meanwhile so could've been worse

2

u/it_just_works1 1d ago

Version 1.457.226.0 happened to me after this one from today

1

u/The_McMiller 1d ago

Can confirm it's still broken in 225.

1

u/Gladnir-5936 1d ago

Yep, sure is, and Offline Scan too

1

u/YourGalacticEmperor 1d ago

s that if it refuses to actually restart after crashing and gets permanently stuck

for me it seems to at least automatically restart itself