Windows Defender Being Disabled by AVG

[ColTom2]

Hi:

Windows Defender is currently being disabled by AVG Free Version 9.0 when
AVG runs either an auto or manual and update upon reboot.

I reported this problem on an AVG Forum and this was the reply to someone
else also questioning this issue.

"Kodl wrote:
AVG contains antispyware detection for a long time, there is no 'additional
baggage' - just definitions in the virus database. You do not need to run any
other antispyware tool.
AVG is disabling Windows Defender because the combination introduces a
significant overhead on the system (Windows Defender in this mode for example
significantly slows down the system boot). Based on recommendation from
Microsoft, we have decided to disable Defender".

I reported no increased boot time with XP MCE (2005), but really got no
where.

It's sorta hard to conceive MS recommending AVG disabling Windows Defender.

If anyone has a registry hack or fix for this issue I sure would like to
know about it, as I want to use both AVG and Windows Defender. Hopefully
someone can come up with a fix to stop AVG from this disabling action.

Thanks,

ColTom2

 

[JohnBurns]

Did you find an answer to this? I thought I had one - I tried to use
WinPatrol's delayed start program feature, but it hasn't worked - maybe
because I haven't configured it properly. Anyway, if you find an answer to
the WD/AVG problem, I wold apprediate knowing about it. Thanks.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Since this is an intentional action on AVG's part (and facilitated by
Microsoft--which encourages other vendors providing their own antispyware
detection to turn Windows Defender off)--I'm not sure what answer you are
looking for?

If you find AVG satisfactory as an anti-malware vendor, then I'd encourage
you to trust their advice and leave Windows Defender turned off, rather than
finding some way to reverse that action. Alternatively, perhaps there's a
way within AVG's UI to disable their antispyware functionality and allow
Windows Defender again.

 

[R Gohman]

I received an email from AVG where they say that they have designed AVG 9 to
turn off Windows Defender at the recommendation of Microsoft. I find it a
bit hard to swallow that Microsoft would make this recommendation. If you
are interested, post back and I will copy the email response in a post.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

This is indeed true. Microsoft recommends that you have only one
application performing real-time scanning, and thus provides hooks so that
other anti-malware products can disable Windows Defender when they are
providing that real-time protection.

 

[Jim Wood]

AVG 9.0 was turning off Defender for me, too. I asked AVG about this and got
what sounded like a personal (not form letter) note back, suggesting that the
two were incompatible. From the guy's description of how AVG works, effective
with 9.0, it makes sense. I have therefore turned Defender off. What is
everyone else doing?

 

[Frustrated Alex]

I would like to see the AVG response thst you received. Seems incredible to
methat microsoft would make that recomendation.

 

[ABT]

AVG 9.0 was turning off Defender for me, too. I asked AVG about this and got
what sounded like a personal (not form letter) note back, suggesting that the
two were incompatible. From the guy's description of how AVG works, effective
with 9.0, it makes sense. I have therefore turned Defender off. What is
everyone else doing?

 

[Munch]

I didn't notice WD being disabled after AVG 9 upgrade because I turned WD off
at version 8.5 (with no problems) as an experiment after fully reading the
user manual. I didn't consider this foolhardy at the time as I believed that
AVG covered the same area of protection. AVG have said it does, so it's just
a question of whether you believe them or not.

I've certainly experienced problems since the upgrade which at one point
required full system recovery on two of my machines due to unfixable crashing
and freezing. Whether this was down to the upgrade or not is pure
speculation. (But it does whiff a bit).

Having said that, I am moving away from AVG as the lack of any real response
from them is alarming in the context of the number of users becoming
unsettled with their latest upgrade. What is equally alarming is the rather
negative and sometimes patronising attitude displayed in the tone of response
some AVG free forum users are getting from Moderators when raising this
issue. I've trusted AVG thus far but would like Microsoft to be clear about
whether they told AVG to disable WD before I return to using AVG 9.

I think if you are uncomfortable with it, go buy a known Anti-virus only
program and use defender with it. Or what about using Microsoft Security
Essentials with WD. I installed Avast 4, MSE and AVG 9 before deciding that
MSE messed me around the least. The machines report that they like the state
of my security settings and are not crashing so all is well. I will be
keeping tabs on later upgrades of AVG to see if they better suit me.


regards,

Munch

 

[Munch]

I didn't notice WD being disabled after AVG 9 upgrade because I turned WD off
at version 8.5 (with no problems) as an experiment after fully reading the
user manual. I didn't consider this foolhardy at the time as I believed that
AVG covered the same area of protection. AVG have said it does, so it's just
a question of whether you believe them or not.

I've certainly experienced problems since the upgrade which at one point
required full system recovery on two of my machines due to unfixable crashing
and freezing. Whether this was down to the upgrade or not is pure
speculation. (But it does whiff a bit).

Having said that, I am moving away from AVG as the lack of any real response
from them is alarming in the context of the number of users becoming
unsettled with their latest upgrade. What is equally alarming is the rather
negative and sometimes patronising attitude displayed in the tone of response
some AVG free forum users are getting from Moderators when raising this
issue. I've trusted AVG thus far but would like Microsoft to be clear about
whether they told AVG to disable WD before I return to using AVG 9.

I think if you are uncomfortable with it, go buy a known Anti-virus only
program and use defender with it. Or what about using Microsoft Security
Essentials with WD. I installed Avast 4, MSE and AVG 9 before deciding that
MSE messed me around the least. The machines report that they like the state
of my security settings and are not crashing so all is well. I will be
keeping tabs on later upgrades of AVG to see if they better suit me.

Munch

 

[Bill Sanderson]

If you search the groups here, you may find a reference which includes a
post from somebody from Microsoft--or perhaps not. I can't recall whether
there's been such a post here in a reasonable time frame or not. Let me see
if I can find some sort of statement....

No luck.

There is a single published API which is used by anti-malware vendors to do
real-time scanning. If multiple vendors use this api, the applications must
cooperatively add themselves to a published chain of users of the API so
that when the antispyware is done scanning, it can hand off to the
antivirus, etc. In the past, sometimes the uninstall of a product would
break this chain, with the result that you'd watch a 1 gig download, only to
see it suddenly disappear completely at the very end as it was handed off
from one scanner into thin air. We still see this symptom on occasion even
now.

That's one issue with multiple vendors using the API. Another is that the
scanning process is serial and takes time and CPU resources--so multiple
scans make things slower for the user.

I haven't been a programmer for many years, and really know very little
about the technical issues involved, but I'm quite sure that if AVG feels
they are handling antispyware, Microsoft is happy for them to (properly)
disable Windows Defender. Certainly Symantec/Norton and McAfee have been
doing it for longer.

 

[Technology Tech]

I have been using avg free and windows defender on all systems that i fix,
and up until ver. 9.0 it was a flawless and very effective combination on
99.9 % of computers that i have handled, I can't figure out why avg would
want to disable an application provided by microsoft, microsoft makes
windows, i trust their programs, as many are great. This was not a good
move for avg, the reason I used and recomended this combination for 2-3 years
was that it did not hinder the boot process and did not hog system resources
while using basic or advanced functions. Avg will not be supporting ver 8.5
after december 09 to my understanding, so now I want to ask myself - is it
time to get another anti-virus ? Post a solution if these 2 programs can be
made to fly, and I will keep you posted too. When I turn Defender back on I
have no compatibility issue. The issue is ion reboot avg does it again.

 

[Carlyvo]

I'm having the same problem. What irks me is that AVG asks if you want to
keep the Windows Defender firewall active or replace it with AVG's. I said
to keep the WD active and bam- after installation of AVG completed I find
that WD disappeared. Also, Skype and Firefox have stopped working and AVG is
failing to update. So annoying.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Windows Defender is not a firewall, it is an anti-spyware application. I
would find this annoying too--and would consider replacing AVG, I think,
unless you can get some better answers from their support forums.

 

[Bern]

Try this. 1. Right click on My Computer. 2. Left click Manager from list.
3. Click the + in front of Services and Applications. 4. Left click Services.
5. Find Windows Defender in list. 6. Right click on it. 7. Left click on
properties. 8. Click on the Recovery tab. 9. First Failure, Second Failure,
and Subsequent Failures should read "Restart Services". 10. 1 day. 11. 3
minutes. (If it takes more than 3 minutes for your computer to boot up you
can change the minutes to 4, 5, 6, minutes.) Remember the original settings
on the recovery tab, by writing them down. I am running Windows XP Pro SP3,
AVG Free 9, and Spy Bot Search and Destroy, and most updated Windows
Defender. Windows Defender continures to run, but the WD icon next to your
Windows Time Clock will not show, I guess that when it missed the original
turn on at original boot up it will not show the icon, but it seems to be
running in the background. Another suggestion is to place a Windows Defender
icon on your desktop where you can click it on to see if it is running in the
background. I have been trying to figure this out for a while, and this is
the best I can find at this point. Good luck to all!

 

[LightninJack#1]

Hi:

Windows Defender is currently being disabled by AVG Free Version 9.0 when
AVG runs either an auto or manual and update upon reboot.

I reported this problem on an AVG Forum and this was the reply to someone
else also questioning this issue.

"Kodl wrote:
AVG contains antispyware detection for a long time, there is no 'additional
baggage' - just definitions in the virus database. You do not need to run any
other antispyware tool.
AVG is disabling Windows Defender because the combination introduces a
significant overhead on the system (Windows Defender in this mode for example
significantly slows down the system boot). Based on recommendation from
Microsoft, we have decided to disable Defender".

I reported no increased boot time with XP MCE (2005), but really got no
where.

It's sorta hard to conceive MS recommending AVG disabling Windows Defender.

If anyone has a registry hack or fix for this issue I sure would like to
know about it, as I want to use both AVG and Windows Defender. Hopefully
someone can come up with a fix to stop AVG from this disabling action.

Thanks,

ColTom2

 

[LightninJack#1]

Hey Guys!,
I have found that the reason that AVG is taking down Windows Defender, is
for the same reason that Norton is doing it! I have Norton on my computer,
and it has been a living hell ever since i re-subscribed to them recently due
to the fact that they have decided to go evil on us all!....That is they are
now spying on us through their own software that people have been trusting
for so many years. This is why they have taken down Windows Defender because
WD has a built in Spyware program that allows us to actually see and monitor
what these trusted company's are actually doing. What they are doing is,
they are following you around on the internet and other various places that
you consider private, so that they can find out what your interests are, and
sell that information to company's who are paying big bucks for it. If they
know all about you, they can target you with advertisements that they know
you might like or have an interest in, for the very purpose of selling you
something!! Sorry to have to tell you guys after the fact, but it took me
about 3 months to crack the case on what was going on with my computer and
calling tech support at Norton over and over again before i finally figured
it out. Norton also has been repeatedly taking down my firewall on purpose
as to open up the door for potential viruses etc. just so that when all kinds
things start going crazy, that their customers will call them and then they
can say their favorite line "we can fix your problem today sir for $69.95".
They have been scamming people for quite some time now, and all of their tech
supprort is out of the country over in India and the Philipines. It's
possible that AVG might be doing the same thing so be very careful with
them!!!....Chow Y'all