How do I “really” uninstall Windows Defender?

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Hi

I have had several PCs running Norton Internet Security but plan to switch them over to MSE. In preliminary reading I discovered that on Windows XP it was advisable to uninstall Windows Defender before installing MSE. (That may or may not have been good advice, but it’s too late to roll it back!). So I followed the instructions on Microsoft’s own Windows Defender support site and removed the application through the control panel.

Problem is, the application hasn’t really been removed. Add/remove gave no errors, but “C:|program FilesWindows Defender” still exists. The registry is still full of keys referencing WinDefend and Windows Defender. And there is still a Start Programs menu entry for Windows Defender, but if I try running it I get an error:

Application failed to initialize: 0x800106ba. A problem caused this program’s service to stop. To start the service, restart your computer or search Help and Support for how to start a service manually.

Running msconfig shows me that there is no service, started, stopped, or disabled. So I can’t go backwards or forwards.

It looks like the control panel uninstall simply deleted the services entry and went no further.

What can I do at this point to fix the machine up? The ultimate goal is to remove NIS and install MSE, but I’d like to minimise the mess that I seem to have created before doing that.

The machine is running WinXP service pack 2. (I should have upgraded to SP3 by now but the motherboard is an Asus A8N SLI Deluxe which had a problem with SP3, and as it wasn’t broke, I didn’t fix it.)

Cheers
T

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Hi Trevor welcome to The Lounge.
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There is no need to remove W Defender before installing MSE as it disables it automatically.
You will on the other hand have trouble removing Norton Products even if using companys removal tool.

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Many program’s uninstall routines are notoriously lacking in completing the job. Sounds like that is what you are experiencing. Delete the Windows Defender Program Files folder, and if you are comfortable in the Registry, you can search down every reference to Windows Defender and remove them one at a time. If you do this, be sure to make a backup of your Registry and a set a System Restore point before doing so.

A good program for backing up the Registry is ERUNT and you can download it here. ERUNT will back up your Registry and it also includes an executable to reload the backup from the command line if something goes wrong.

If you would rather try a Registry cleaner, download CCleaner here. It includes a registry cleaner that is fairly conservative, so should be safer to use than some others.

As to applying SP3, is your ASUS motherboard hosting an AMD CPU? If so, check out this article for help with installing SP3. You could also just install this MS update before installing SP3.

Hope this helps.

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Have you tried re-installing Windows Defender? There is no reason to uninstall it if you are going to install MSE. The MSE installation will disable Windows Defender if it is present. That way WD will be auotmatically reinstated if you later decide to uninstall MSE.

Joe

--Joe

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According to this Microsoft Answers Forum thread, two MVP’s recommend uninstalling Windows Defender before installing MSE, because some components of Defender may cause some conflicts with MSE in XP. Both, however, say that MSE should remove/disable Defender from XP, while MSE can only disable Defender in Vista and Win7 because it cannot be uninstalled in those OSes.

They seem to suggest that uninstalling Windows Defender is best if it can be uninstalled, such as with XP.

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Thank you all, I re-ran the Windows Defender installer and then uninstalled, and it really has gone this time 🙂

I’ve also run the MS update for the SP3 reboot problem and I will try upgrading to SP3 again (tomorrow, after a full backup).

Cheers
T

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