I ran an update this morning (program as well as definition), and needed to restart my computer for the program changes to take effect. The update was successfull, however when I used my computer again tonight, I was informed by Windows that Avast! and Windows Defender were switched off (but only for spyware, not viruses - slightly strange), and no matter how many times I clicked switch on in the security centre, Avast! wouldn’t switch on, however a restart fixed this problem.
It did alert me to another issue though. I assume that Windows Defender must have been switched off by Avast! during setup, as I had it switched on before, however now it is switched back on (due to the steps I took to try to switch Avast! back on). I have heard that having two anti-malware programs running at the same time can conflict, so should I switch Windows Defender off? Is it unnecessary?