Strange thing w/ Windows Defender

[SHO]

So the other day after a reboot on my Vista OS laptop, the Windows Defender icon appeared for the first time ever in my startup program tray on the bottom right hand corner of my desktop. It's the little Windows Defender castle with a yellow exclamation point in the middle of it. When I click to open it, the Windows Defender screen pops up saying I haven't done a scan in X number of days. So, I did a full scan and it of course, found nothing. Then on reboot, the same thing happens, the icon comes back with the exclamation point saying I need to scan. If I right click to exit out of it, it tells me if I exit, I won't be protected against unwanted software.

Anyone know what this is all about?

Thanks.

 

[PC eye]

That's one item I disabled here since I tried out in beta form. There are some better programs like Spyware Terminator that offer better protection. It sounds more like a simple software glitch and perhaps a need for an update to see that corrected.

Want 10 ways to speed things up in Vista? http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2007/10/19/10-simple-ways-to-speed-up-windows-vista/

 

[SHO]

Since I use all the good freeware anti-spyware stuff, Windows Defender is still the only real time protection software I actually have on my PC to protect it from spyware threats. So if I disable it, I'll feel less safe, so to speak.

But maybe it's broken.

Thanks for the link.

 

[PC eye]

When that as well as other MS anti-spyware tools came out I found them to far less effective then programs like AVG. Ad-Aware SE Personal now seeing Ad-Aware 2007, and the more recent freeware mentioned earlier that includes a mild firewall. Spyware Terminator will catch things that others seem to miss. http://www.spywareterminator.com/

If Vista was preinstalled it probably saw an incomplete installation of the WD tool. This is why going to the MS update site would be an idea to see if an update will correct the likely registy or software glitch being seen. The other option would be using the system restore feature to bring the system back prior to when this was first seen.

 

[ceewi1]

You might want to try Spyware Guard - it provides free Real Time protection, and can also be used with Spyware Blaster for even greater protection. If you do so, you should disable Windows Defender's real time scanning, as they can conflict with each other.