Computers & Electronics

Windows blocks programs at startup and I can't turn it off

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  • Mar 7th, 2014 12:25 am
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Jan 10, 2010
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Windows blocks programs at startup and I can't turn it off

Please help. We have an older Acer laptop that runs Windows Vista. It works fine except Windows Defender blocks Malwarebytes at startup. I have gone online looking for tutorials on how to disable Windows Defender. Tried pretty much everything everyone suggested - going to Defender through msconfig to turn it off also unchecked Windows Defender in "services" and "startup" but nothing seemed to work. As soon as I restarted my computer the same "Windows has blocked some programs" message popped up and I still have to manually allow it to come through. Is there a permanent option to allow it, or a way to really disable Windows Defender in Vista for good? We have two other computers that run Windows 7 along with Malwarebytes without the same problem so I assume it's a conflict between Malwarebytes and Vista Windows Defender.

Any constructive suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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Jul 27, 2009
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With Windows Defender disabled uninstall Malwarebytes. Reboot and reinstall it. Or else go into Windows Defender Setting and allow Malwarebytes to run.
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I would like to go into Windows Defender to allow Malwarebytes run but when I went to "allowed programs" and saw an empty window but there is no button for me to add Malwarebytes. Maybe I have missed something?
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I don't have the old Windows Defender so I can't help you there. But if you have something like EXCLUDE FILES and LOCATION and browse for it.
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LEXX911 wrote: I don't have the old Windows Defender so I can't help you there. But if you have something like EXCLUDE FILES and LOCATION and browse for it.
Thanks. I understand. I have seen the new Windows Defender and it looked different than the Vista version. In fact, someone says the old Defender was part of Vista and that couldn't be uninstalled. I will continue to dig and if I come to a dead end I will try to uninstall then re-install Malwarebytes to see if it will work. Thanks again.
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althetrainer wrote: Please help. We have an older Acer laptop that runs Windows Vista. It works fine except Windows Defender blocks Malwarebytes at startup. I have gone online looking for tutorials on how to disable Windows Defender. Tried pretty much everything everyone suggested - going to Defender through msconfig to turn it off also unchecked Windows Defender in "services" and "startup" but nothing seemed to work. As soon as I restarted my computer the same "Windows has blocked some programs" message popped up and I still have to manually allow it to come through. Is there a permanent option to allow it, or a way to really disable Windows Defender in Vista for good? We have two other computers that run Windows 7 along with Malwarebytes without the same problem so I assume it's a conflict between Malwarebytes and Vista Windows Defender.

Any constructive suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
It seems it is requesting Administrative Privileges for some reason. Please do the following to see if it corrects the issue:

Please open C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes ' Anti-Malware and right click on mbamgui.exe and select Properties.
Click on the Compatibility tab and look under Privelage Level
Make sure the box next to Run this program as an administrator is not checked and if it is, uncheck it and click Apply
Click the Show settings for all users button on the bottom and click Continue at the User Account Control prompt
Make sure that none of the boxes are checked and if they are, uncheck them and click Apply then click OK to each of the properties windows to close them

Reboot your computer and see if the issue still persists
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eldiablo wrote: It seems it is requesting Administrative Privileges for some reason. Please do the following to see if it corrects the issue:

Please open C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes ' Anti-Malware and right click on mbamgui.exe and select Properties.
Click on the Compatibility tab and look under Privelage Level
Make sure the box next to Run this program as an administrator is not checked and if it is, uncheck it and click Apply
Click the Show settings for all users button on the bottom and click Continue at the User Account Control prompt
Make sure that none of the boxes are checked and if they are, uncheck them and click Apply then click OK to each of the properties windows to close them

Reboot your computer and see if the issue still persists
I have followed all the steps but none of the boxes were checked so I made no change at all. I wish some of them were checked. In that case I had a little hope to get this problem fixed. Thanks for trying though. :)
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Is there an option box to check or uncheck when you get that pop up? If not try this fix and reboot.
startup_fix
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LEXX911 wrote: Is there an option box to check or uncheck when you get that pop up? If not try this fix and reboot.
startup_fix
The bubble doesn't have any box to check; it has four options: show blocked programs, run blocked programs, help, and exit. I am on a different computer right now because there are a few new updates available for the Acer and I want to see if updating will make a difference. Once I finish updating I will try your link. Thanks!

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