Microsoft Defender Threat Service Has Stopped - 2020
By Timothy Tibbetts |
In this tutorial, we look at issues with Windows Defender having a yellow exclamation point, red X, and or Windows Defender Security Center says, "Threat Service Has Stopped" or "Virus protection is turned off."
These Windows Defender errors frequently appear after uninstalling another antivirus and allowing Windows Defender to take over as your primary antivirus. Another common reason is when malware or a virus disabled your antivirus.
Update - For those coming here about April 2020 problem, Microsoft has fixed the problem. Check Windows Updates.
Press the Windows Key + R, type in regedit and press Enter.
Type Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender into the search bar.
Look for a registry key in the right window that's called DisableAntiSpyware.
If you don't see DisableAntiSpyware, right-click on the right window and click New > Dword (32-bit Value).
Name this new key DisableAntiSpyware and press Enter to save.
The new key should have a Value Data of 0. If not, double-click DisableAntiSpyware and change the Value Data to 0 and click OK.
Open Windows Security and click Turn on.
If that fails, check Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Manage settings > Real-time protection is toggled on.
If you've uninstalled an antivirus, you might need to reboot and or try the steps again.
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These Windows Defender errors frequently appear after uninstalling another antivirus and allowing Windows Defender to take over as your primary antivirus. Another common reason is when malware or a virus disabled your antivirus.
Update - For those coming here about April 2020 problem, Microsoft has fixed the problem. Check Windows Updates.
Press the Windows Key + R, type in regedit and press Enter.
Type Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender into the search bar.
Look for a registry key in the right window that's called DisableAntiSpyware.
If you don't see DisableAntiSpyware, right-click on the right window and click New > Dword (32-bit Value).
Name this new key DisableAntiSpyware and press Enter to save.
The new key should have a Value Data of 0. If not, double-click DisableAntiSpyware and change the Value Data to 0 and click OK.
Open Windows Security and click Turn on.
If that fails, check Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Manage settings > Real-time protection is toggled on.
If you've uninstalled an antivirus, you might need to reboot and or try the steps again.
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