Windows 10: Defender/MSE and Process Hacker 2

I'm using MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) on one PC as a temporary solution and its been working without incident until last weekend, after the usual definitions update.


Process Hacker 2, well known software that has been recommended for many years even on some PC security web sites, is now being seen as a hack tool with a "high" threat rating. Because I had MSE set to default it summarily quarantined the files concerned rendering the program unusable.


It took some time to work out what had happened and after full system scans with other security software on that PC and others I discovered it was only MSE that has any problem with it.


I was hoping this was some accidental MS definitions update mistake but the response persists even after a full uninstall of PH2, verified (MD5/SHA1) download and reinstall. Later I discovered other users with Defender rather than MSE were also reporting the same problem. Presumably both security tool use the same MS definitions.


We need an explanation from MS about this and, if it is as I suspect a false positive, the definitions to be updated to reflect that ASAP.


BTW if intentional whoever made the decision to include it should be made to stand on the naughty step. Not just for that either but also apparently missing the fact that Process Hacker 2 64bit includes the 32bit .exe as well. A scan of that provokes no such warning of "high" threat by MSE.

:)

 

Defender for Win10 won't turn on, and is'nt listed in services.msc, MSE is'nt there either

I have been trying to activate Win.10 Defender. I can bring it up from the system, but it won't turn on.

I used runwin. to find it isn't listed, nor is MSE. I am using Webroot Secure Anywhere, but even if that

will disable Defender/MSE, why are they not listed?

 

Do I need Defender?


I have not found a good way to uninstall MSE when Defender is on the system. It should never be that way. Windows 8.x and Windows 10 have the rebranded MSE (aka Defender) installed by default. If you try to install MSE on one of those systems, it won't install. So this is an anomaly of the Win10 upgrade. The two are so closely related it might not be possible to untangle without breaking Defender.

There are a few suggestions to disable the Defender service and try uninstalling MSE, but I think that might have adverse affects Defender.
If Defender is the malware service running then that is what you want.

You can use cCleaner to remove the MSE entry from the list of installed programs in Programs & Features
The image shows how to remove Audacity from the installed/uninstall list.
You would select MSE instead, then delete to remove that program from the list. This does not uninstall the program, it simply removes the program form the list of programs you can select to uninstall.




Download CCleaner FREE if you don't already have the utility.

That's about all I can think of for now.

 

MSE wont uninstall

Glad to see people actually read the text and don't just look at the pretty pictures *Smile
I will give your suggestion a go...