Windows Defender 'Checkpoint' update

[History Fan]

I stopped using Windows Defender a couple of months ago because of the
multiple and unnecessary 'Checkpoints' the program was creating. Has this
glitch been eliminated yet? I realize it didn't affect some users.

 

[Larry Gardner]

It really depends what else you have installed and running on your system.
If something is constantly modifying the registry in the background (certain
keys), or modifying some files, Windows will create a checkpoint.

How often was the CheckPoints being created?

 

[History Fan]

It really depends what else you have installed and running on your system.
If something is constantly modifying the registry in the background
(certain keys), or modifying some files, Windows will create a checkpoint.

How often was the CheckPoints being created?

Windows Defender was creating about 5 checkpoints a day on my PC.

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

I know of no change to this issue. However, we do have a set of registry
editing instructions to create a new key which will modify this behavior--so
if doing that is acceptable to you I'll post that (once I find it!)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Dodson has posted a workaround to eliminate the behavior, and I
have taken the liberty of expanding on his somewhat terse treatment:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is possible to stop this activity, but it takes some care and registry
editing.

Important: This message contains information about how to modify the
registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make
sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For
more
information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click
the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
256986 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/) Description of the
Microsoft Windows registry

Start, run, Regedit <enter>

Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scan

Right click that folder in the left tree view, and choose "Permissions"
With your username highlighted, click Full Control in the Allow column,
and "Apply"

With the Scan folder highlighted choose:

Edit, New, DWORD value, and type in "DisableRestorePoint"
and hit enter.

Double-click DisableRestorePoint in the right column, and set the Value
to 1, hexadecimal.

Right-click Scan in the left tree view, and choose "Permissions"
With your username highlighted, Uncheck "Full Control" in the Allow
column, and "Apply"

Close the registry editor by hitting the X in the upper right corner, or
File, Exit.
--

 

[Robin]

in checkpoints do you mean system restore points?
if not what does he mean so I can look at my computer?

thanks
robin

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

Yes, system restore points. I don't have any systems that I've spotted (out
of about 50) that show this behavior--but some users definitely see it.

--

 

[robin]

when installing it- i had 3 checkpoints on one computer the day i installed
it- so far today there is only one today. On the other xp pro sp2 computer-
when installing it- it only created one for the day and so far today there
are none..

Does it take up alot of space for checkpoints? or does it matter?
robin

 

[Guest]

Hello Robin,

Have a look in here:

http://antivirus.about.com/gi/dynam...munity/centers/management/sysrestore_faq.mspx

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

This doesn't sound abnormal. You can set the maximum amount of space to be
devoted to system restore on the tab in properties of My Computer--sorry,
I'm sitting at a Mac at the moment and can't figure out how to get there to
give precise instructions

I wouldn't worry about this from the details you've given.

--

 

[Guest]

System Restore points labelled "Windows Defender Checkpoint" only started to
appear on my computer when I upgraded Windows Defender to Version:
1.1.1347.0 . Now they seem to be created very frequently (but not every time
the computer starts). I agree that they cause a problem because the creation
of 'trivial' restore points eats away the good 'genuine' ones that you might
really need.

Windows Defender Version: 1.1.1347.0 is NOW what you get when you download
from the Microsoft web page but probably not the version you have if you have
been running Windows Defender for a while (see Help "About Windows Defender"
for your version).

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

I generally keep my systems on the latest code, so I've been running this
build on many systems, but not all, since it became available.

There's a supported registry change to eliminate these checkpoints, and
other users seem to have found that checking a couple of the non-default
notification options also eliminates them.

We have a Microsoft post stating that they are aware of the issue, and
expect to improve on the current situation with newer code--but it is the UI
code version which needs to change for this issue--and thus far this has
required a new download, although there's now a process to notify the
availability of such a download within Windows Defender.

So--use one of the current workarounds, if this is a significant issue, or
wait for a notice of a downloadable version newer than 1347--and check on
the status of these checkpoints with that newer code.

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