Microsoft Security Essentials will not run at start up.

While I've not had the issues with MSSE that you've had, I've stopped using it because it's missed a lot of detections as reported by numerous test results.

I'm offering a suggestion as a replacement — Qihu's 360 Internet Security. It's not hosted/mirrored here at MG's but their 360 Total Security is. I'm running 360 Internet Security on my XP Pro drive and my Vista Ultimate drive and will soon be adding it to my 8.1 Pro drive. It seems to run even better on the later versions of Windows and monitors downloads and key locations and notifies if it detects/suspects anything and if a file is unknown, you can upload it to their site for evaluation.

 

I've gone with 360 Total Security. Did the research first, and it stacks up performance and features-wise. Features-4 definitions engines (including Bitdefender), anti-keylogging, anti-unsolicited webcam capture, USB protection, and Speedup, Cleanup, and Wifi Check scans. Performance is better than I have seen even from avast, which I thought was good. It's really light on resources.

Not missing that orange orb constantly spinning at this point...

 

I've always just stuck with MSE (Defender in 8.1) but this does sound worth trying, but what about the possible clash with the inbuilt Defender in 8.1?

 

Defender will shut itself off.

That said I am giving it a try for a computer I cleaned up for 8 hours yesterday. Not convinced yet, it feels gimmicky and produces its own popups which are almost as bad as the malware I removed.

 

Gimmicky I can live without. Main reason I like MSE/Defender is you wouldn't even know it was there, quietly getting on with its job. Hope you post your verdict.

 

I removed it because I have this computer locked down like Fort Knox and cannot afford to have programs offering popups to the user, especially for Facebook which I have locked down from the computer accessing.

 

I saw a couple pppups for in app purchases, and one mentioning something about liking them on Facebook.

It is funny, with avast, it is the most common AV I find on infected computers, and it is providing its own share of nagging popups. It just goes to show you that no AV will stop a user hellbent on destroying their OS.

I settled with Panda, as it offered just one single popup every once in a while to upgrade to Pro.

 

Kes, did you use the uninstall tool from Avast when you removed it from your PC http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility and rebooted prior to installing MSSE?

I did the above just a few days ago and MSSE is running fine here. *knock on wood*

 

I was using Avast with Win 8.1 until the update from windows that had a conflict with Avast. I started getting Certificate Errors in IE and Chrome on about half the web pages I visit. The Forum page here at MG displayed OK but the Home Page of MG did not. I tried all the usual fixes for certificate errors that I am aware of with no luck. At the time I did not know the problem was with the Windows update and Avast and there was no mention of it in the Forums here then. Now I see others had a problem also.
I was going to do a system restore but mysteriously all my restore points were missing except the one for the latest windows update. I decided to try uninstalling Avast and used the Avast uninstall utility and then enabled Windows Defender and all the Certificate Error problems disappeared.
So for now I am sticking with WD and I don't think I will try Avast again anytime soon.

 

Forgot to mention I had just updated to Avast 2015 right before the Windows Updates came. Then the trouble began!

 

Same here when I had a FP re Macrium Reflect in Avast v 2014 a few days ago. I panicked since it was the first FP I ever had. Combined with the need to do a custom install every time Avast has a program update, I uninstalled it (v 2014) a few days ago with their tool, rebooted and now using MSSE. Avast should focus more on their AV than on their bloat, bells and whistles, that's what a decent AV is supposed to do IMHO. I usually would visit their forums when a new version came out and would not update (custom install) until the forum would quiet down.

 

Oh Kes, I wasn't aware of that! Hope you got your problem solved. Sorry that I couldn't help you out.

 

Three anti-virus applications mis-behaving, odd. How about a different approach?
VoodooShield - |MajorGeeks|

 

Yes, I have noticed that 360 TS is much more active than avast, which I used before. Kind of a double edged sword, but I haven't been overwhelmed by the program yet. Most of the positives, so far, I understood. I keep some backups for scripts I have on a USB drive, and those I had to whitelist.

I am a little surprised that 360 TS went after a graphics card driver but not shocked. I guess for me at this point, I will take the extra aggression. I was feeling like avast was slipping in that way. Also, 360 TS has features I like...

 

You mean UAC prompt? That seems odd. At this stage of the game, I would think that points to it making a registry change which doesn't sound good at all.

 

Interesting.

 

Kestrel13!...could that be the result of a Defender scan? Maybe there is a component of Defender that is set up to alert you through the action center when you have an a-v it hasn't ever heard of before. Qihu and 360 Total Security are fairly new...

 

Kestrel13!...

Just saw somewhere that Avast 2015 has a repair tool you can run from Control Panel->Programs. Click on Avast in the list and select repair. Maybe that will correct the problem...

 

Is Avast showing that all the shields are working?
If it is, right click the tray icon and select shields control ->Disable for 10 minutes and confirm.
Avast should now show a red X in the tray icon.
Go back into the shields control and enable all shields.
Hopefully the action center should now recognize Avast as the AV.