Windows 10: Defender finds threats but can't do anything with them

Defender picked up some dodgy .exe files from one of those linkbucks type websites that got downloaded, it spotted them which is great but now they are stuck in quarantine and I can't delete them, I tell it to remove and it just sits there with the dots flying across and does nothing.

There are no exe files in my Downloads folder so where is it finding it?





:)

 

Windows defender false positive - forced to allow threat


Windows defender has started to identify C:\Windows\System32\mshta.exe as a threat [normally reported as a Trojan Powessere.G]. I use mshta.exe to run an hta custom MsgBox - I have been hoping to keep using my current CustomMsgBox tool [batch file calling a vbs-hta file] until later this year when I hope to have had enough time to replace it with a PowerShell alternative.

Windows defender's notification lets me "allow the threat" but that seems to me to be a bigger security hole than is necessary - it will now ignore a potentially real intrusion when all I want to run is a genuine Windows component. My immediate problem is fixed but I would prefer to fix the false positive using the exclusions list.

I cleared the 'Allowed threats history' so I could use the exclusions list instead. I added C:\Windows\System32\mshta.exe to the file exclusions list and I checked that it had taken properly by checking the exclusions list both in the UI & in the Registry. But the exclusion made no difference, it continued to detect and block the exe.

I have repeated the attempt several times [by clearing the allowed threats list & exclusions list beforehand] and the results are the same every time
- allowing the threat works,
- using the exclusions list has no effect.

I studied the relevant tutorial but have not spotted an error in what I have been doing - Add or Remove Windows Defender Exclusions

Does anybody with experience of using the exclusions list to counter false positives have any suggestions for me?

Denis

 

Suppress "Windows Defender Antivirus did not find any threats..." notification on Windows 10

You can turn off Enhanced Notifications for Windows Defender:

1. Press Windows + i.
   
2. Click Update & Security.
   
3. From the Update & security sidebar, click Windows Defender.
   
4. Scroll to the Enhanced notifications section and select No.
   

If you do not see Enhanced notifications as an option (likely because you are running Windows 10 15042 or newer), include the following additional steps:

1. Click Open Windows Defender Security Center.
   
2. Click Virus & threat protection.
   
3. Scroll down and click Change notification settings.
   
4. Turn off Receive recent activity and scan results.
   

This will turn of successful updates and only notify you critical events.

 

Defender finds a threat but doesn't take action

I ran a full scan and defender seems to have found a threat but when I say to fix it, it runs forever saying it is "taking action on the threats". When I select "See threat results" it shows no threats. Did it or not find a threat?