Vista - Defender service on Vista x64 won't start

Just installed Vista Ultimate 64-bit version a few days ago. Defender was
working normally. A day later, possibly coinciding with having installed the
updates from Windows Update, the Defender service will not start
automatically or manually.

I tried every "fix" I could find:

- Client for Microsoft Networks is installed
- I unchecked all the boxes on Windows Update (WU) settings, stopped the
WU service, deleted the Software Distribution folder, and restarted WU
- I attempted to uninstall Defender to reinstall it (already downloaded
x64 Defender) but it doesn't show up in the Programs (to uninstall) list or
the Windows features list. I tried a command line uninstall but it give the
same error as when I try to manually start the service. Unable to initialize.
- Tried to install the one I downloaded over the current one but it tells
me it's already installed and exits.
- I do not have OneCare installed and never have because apparently it
doesn't work on Vista64.
- Tried restoring the default signatures from the command line
- Tried manually downloading the newer signatures and installing them

Defender still won't start, unable to initialize and the event viewer says
it can't find the specified path. I checked the registry to find out which
path it's trying to launch Defender from and it points to Program
Files\Windows Defender, I checked the Windows Defender directory and all the
files are there. There's a second Windows Defender directory under the
"Program Files (x86)" directory but none of the registry entries pointed to
it.

Do your self a favour get rid of Defender it dosent do what it is sopposed
to, Ive had to run avg free version to get rid of spyware Defender didnt
even pick up on.


"Jay See" wrote:

> Just installed Vista Ultimate 64-bit version a few days ago. Defender was
> working normally. A day later, possibly coinciding with having installed the
> updates from Windows Update, the Defender service will not start
> automatically or manually.
>
> I tried every "fix" I could find:
>
> - Client for Microsoft Networks is installed
> - I unchecked all the boxes on Windows Update (WU) settings, stopped the
> WU service, deleted the Software Distribution folder, and restarted WU
> - I attempted to uninstall Defender to reinstall it (already downloaded
> x64 Defender) but it doesn't show up in the Programs (to uninstall) list or
> the Windows features list. I tried a command line uninstall but it give the
> same error as when I try to manually start the service. Unable to initialize.
> - Tried to install the one I downloaded over the current one but it tells
> me it's already installed and exits.
> - I do not have OneCare installed and never have because apparently it
> doesn't work on Vista64.
> - Tried restoring the default signatures from the command line
> - Tried manually downloading the newer signatures and installing them
>
> Defender still won't start, unable to initialize and the event viewer says
> it can't find the specified path. I checked the registry to find out which
> path it's trying to launch Defender from and it points to Program
> Files\Windows Defender, I checked the Windows Defender directory and all the
> files are there. There's a second Windows Defender directory under the
> "Program Files (x86)" directory but none of the registry entries pointed to
> it.