windows defender

Viruses and worms
1

Hi,
I’m a real novice so please be patient with me. I’ve noticed that in task manager my windows defender has stopped, I believe this happened after I updated Avast? I have tried to gain access via the windows defender app, but I’m redirected to security and maintenance. Once I’m in security and maintenance I cannot find any options regarding windows defender and turning it on. I have tried to start windows defender via Task Manager unsuccessfully as this pop up appears “the operation could not be completed. windows could not verify the digital signature for this file a recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that assigned incorrectly or damaged or that might be malicious software from an unknown source”. So basically what I’m asking is:

  1. Can you run Windows Defender and Avast at the same time? and if you can how do i get Windows Defender to start again? (need answer in very basic form, step by step)
  2. Should i be worried as the pop up mentions malicious software (i have ran several Avast scans and nothing pops up) My laptop has been behaving strangely, icons highlight that i have not clicked on, the mouse freezes and i have to go into that black screen and type in a code (sorry to sound thick), then restart the laptop. So i’m worried that something is cleverly hiding somewhere. Or could it be that i recently updated to windows 10?
  3. Oddly i cannot change my real time protection option either, it does state that it is on but does nothing when i click on it (doesnt give the option to turn off) not sure if this matters.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

2

windows defender turns itself off and will not run when you have another anti virus installed, its normal and having more than 1 anti virus program running can cause issues.

im not very knowledgeable on the other issues so maybe someone else can help there.

3
2. Should i be worried as the pop up mentions malicious software (i have ran several Avast scans and nothing pops up) My laptop has been behaving strangely, icons highlight that i have not clicked on, the mouse freezes and i have to go into that black screen and type in a code (sorry to sound thick), then restart the laptop. So i'm worried that something is cleverly hiding somewhere. Or could it be that i recently updated to windows 10?

follow instructions here https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0
we need Malwarebytes and Farbar Recovery Scan Tool logs, attach the logs, 3 logs total

see below the box you write in … Attachments and other options

When done a expert will check logs and assist you

4

Thanks for your reply. Thought that might be the case.

5

you should still follow Pondus and upload the scan logs just in case there is an issue.