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[leej]

hi
i have read most of the topics about windows defender on these forums but cant find what i need!

i cant access the windows defender page when i try to turn it on a pop-up comes up saying this

WINDOWS DEFENDER IS TURNED OFF BY GROUP POLICY
windows defender won't provide protection against harmful or
potential unwanted software and it won't send you alerts
because its turned off

to help protect your computer against harmful or potentially
unwanted software, contact your system administrator to enable
windows defender via group policy

CLOSE

that is what's on the pop-up when i press close i get nothing
i have an acer laptop with windows vista sp1 i just got from ebay, how would i go about sorting this problem

thank you lee

[alexmvp]

Group Policy is used by corporations to manage all computers centrally by system admins or domain admins in microsoft speak.

My first question is - Is your computer joined / attached to a company network right now? In other words, is this a machine you are using at work and attached to your company domain? IF yes, nothing you can do. Your kinda stuck with the group policy disabling windows defender.

If no, the machine MIGHT have been attached to a domain so old policy is still impacting you. To check if it thinks it's on a domain, Click Start, Right Click Computer and Click Properties. On the System screen it shoudl show you the machine name and the domain. Is the domain empty?

Let me know!

[leej]

thank you for your response

when i got the laptop the OS had to be re installed (always the case when getting a new laptop) but the person must of done it again
the laptop is my wifes and she has her name next to computer name and full computer name but it does have 'WORKGROUP' next to workgroup which she didnt put there

hope this helps

EDIT: what is weird is that i have the same settings as stated above and i can turn my defender on/off but she cant. she is classed as the administrator there is no other users on the laptop i have read on the help menu and it says something about MMC 3.0. is where i can disable the group policy but it only has MMC and no option to disable the group policy on there

EDIT 2: when i went into services i tried to turn defender on there but i did find group policy client when i right clicked and went to properties a pop-up came up with 4 tabs with a location (path to executable) C:\windows\system32\sychost.exe - k GPSvcGroup when i searched for it on the laptop i didnt find anything

all i need is to change the setting on the group policy but cant seem to do this
thank you

[Joseph]

all i need is to change the setting on the group policy but cant seem to do this
thank you

Ok, you should be able to get into your local group policy by clicking the Start button, and type gpedit.msc <Press Enter>

Now, navigate to the following location:

Local Computer Policy -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Defender

Once you Click Windows Defender on the Tree on the LEFT, on the right you should get all the Group Policies. Look for "Turn off Windows Defender".

I assume that's the key you need to set it so that it's Disabled or Not Configured. Here's what it says when I clicked on it:

Turns off Windows Defender Real-Time Protection, and no more scans are scheduled.

If you enable this policy setting, Windows Defender does not run, and computers will not be scanned for spyware or other potentially unwanted software.

If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, by default Windows Defender runs and computers are scanned for spyware and other potentially unwanted software.

Keep us updated here!

[leej]

thank you for the replay again

i tried to type in gpedit.msc but didnt get anything from that not sure why

is there any other way?

and i have read on other forums that if you have avg 9 it does conflict with windows defender and will turn it off is this true?

[goLfie]

are you running a low end Vista install?

group policy editor (gpedit.msc) won't run if you aren't administrator or if you are running a lower end version of Vista. (like a Home edition)

The other option is a registry fix, I just need to find it now...

[goLfie]

ok here we go,

it's possible that the defender was disabled using a registry hack. you can check this and change this if you:

open regedit
browse to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\]
go to the DWORD DisableAntiSpyware and change it's value to 0

if that doesn't exist it's likely a domain issue

[shockersh]

and i have read on other forums that if you have avg 9 it does conflict with windows defender and will turn it off is this true?

Security is always your own thing BUT, I installed the Free Microsoft AV and didn't even bother turning on windows defender. http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microso ... -download/