Defender Icon in Taskbar

[Jim]

I recently had to remove a trojan from my wife's HP with XP. The usual
spyware programs didn't get it, so I found some 'homebrew' routines from
valid Internet spyware newsgroups that ran from what looked like DOS prompts
in Safe mode and do seem to have done the job. At one point I had
uninstalled Defender when another off-the-shelf (paid) program claimed to be
my salvation, which it was not. Anyhow, once the problem appeared solved I
uninstalled all other spyware programs and reinstalled Defender, setting it
with the default options except that I want the icon in the taskbar at all
times. I'm not sure it's loading properly by itself, however. The Task
Manager says that MsMpEng.exe is running, but there is nothing is in the
taskbar unless I to to Start/All Programs/Defender and click it. Then it
shows up. Any ideas, and is there any way to verify that it is actually
running aside from the Task Manager inquiry? Thanks.

 

[CE]

Jim'

In Windows Defender go to Tools then Options. Scroll down the page until you
reach "choose when icon appears" and put a check mark next to "always."

 

[Jim]

Thanks, CE, but I've done that. Still, when the computer boots, there is no
icon in the taskbar; I have to find the program and click it to make it
appear. Any other ideas?

 

[williamtell]

Jim, check this, right click your task bar, click properties, look to see if
you have Hide inactive icons checked.

Good luck

 

[williamtell]

Sorry one more comment, while checking properties click customize tab, check
that Defender is not set to always hide.

 

[Jim]

Thanks, William,

But I've tried all the "usual suspects" and everything is set to
display the icon, both the setting in the Defender program and on the Desktop
Taskbar Properties list. When I start the computer I check and, sure enough,
MsMpEng.exe is running, according to the Task Manager, but no icon appears in
the tray. If I then go into the All Programs list and click on Defender, the
main screen of the Defender program opens immediately, says everything is
okay, and the icon pops onto the tray. No second instance of Defender
running shows up in Task Manager after this. This is strange. Maybe I'd
better uninstall and reinstall. What do you think? I hate to go through the
exercise if everything is otherwise okay.

 

[williamtell]

I would try that, either it will or it won't, at the least, I do not have the
link, sorry, but I would go to MS downloads and find Windows Install Cleanup
utility and download and run it after the uninstall for a clean sweep, then
download and install a fresh Defender.

 

[williamtell]

Jim, I'm sorry I could not grab the link for Windows Install Cleanup off of
this page, so here is the link for the page where you can find it, scroll
down mid page and you will see it.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923100

 

[Jim]

Thanks again very much, William; I'll give it a try.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I wouldn't do that, I think.

What I would try first is to go to contol panel, add or remove programs,
highlight windows defender, and choose repair.

I think you may be seeiing an XP bug with icon display--i.e. a Windows
problem, rather than a Defender problem, but I am not sure of the fix for
it.

 

[hektor]

I had the same problem that most people had, windows defender tray icon didnt
appear even with the options of always enable and everything; but the real
solution is to put in the run command
(regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run )

"C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe" -hide

instead of

%Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe -hide

to be honest i dont know why it works that way but for dumb problems dumb
solutions

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Was that a typo?

%programfiles% should be the same as c:\program files if, in fact, Windows
Defender is installed on drive C.

However, your example is missing the second % sign and has a space in
"programfiles"

I don't think case matters.



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