Windows 10: Major Microsoft Defender ASR issue confirmed: shortcuts broken, application start up issues

Microsoft is investigating a major issue affecting users of its Windows operating system currently. According to the company's short message on Twitter, it is investigating an "issue where users are unable to access application shortcuts on the Start menu and Taskbar in Windows".



Microsoft published a follow-up to the initial confirmation of its investigation. It states that Microsoft has identified the issue and "reverted the rule to prevent further impact" while the investigation continues.

Users with Admin Center access are asked to follow SI MO497128.

There, Microsoft provided more feedback on the issue.

"User impact: Users are unable to utilize the Application shortcuts on the Start menu and taskbar.

More info: The shortcut icons may not appear or would not work. We've receive reports that the ASR rule 'Block Win32 API calls from Office macro' is deleting the application shortcuts"

Günter Born notified me about the issue and collected information from various sources on his English blog. First user reports that he received indicated that an Office 365 update could have been the culprit, but further research suggests that the issue is not limited to Office 365.

Affected users and system administrators report that program icons disappear suddenly from the start menu and the desktop.

Martin Schmidli confirmed on Twitter that his organization was seeing the issue:

"We currently experience a weird issue. ASR is triggering the deletion of Shortcuts in the taskbar. OfficeClickToRun is blocked. Does somebody have this issue as well? Currently 2 Tenants. #Intune #MDE #Microsoft"
​

One administrator on Reddit suggested that the cause of the issue was an ASR, Attack Surface Restriction, rule. A potential workaround for the issue is to set the ASR Rule to audit in Intune.

Block Win32 API calls from Office macros

Rule-ID 92e97fa1-2edf-4476-bdd6-9dd0b4dddc7b
​

The workaround was confirmed by several users on various sites and messaging services already.

The issue should die down in the coming hours thanks to the reverting of the rule by Microsoft. It is unclear if shortcuts will be restored somehow once a permanent fix for the issue is published by Microsoft. Several

The reports suggest that the issue is affecting business and Enterprise environments only or predominantly.

Now You: were you are machines in your organization affected by the issue?

Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Major Microsoft Defender ASR issue confirmed: shortcuts broken, application start up issues appeared first on gHacks Technology News.

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win 10 defender issues

Hi,

Windows Defender helps in making your computer secure from any viruses or malware. Listed below are some reasons why the program will not work properly:

• Software conflicts (usually cause with other anti-virus application)
• Virus and malware infection
• Corrupted system files

To help you with the issue, we suggest following the steps provided by
PrashantKumar96 on this thread
that can help in running your Windows Defender successfully.

Let us know if you have other concerns.

 

Optical Drive Issue

Hi Jerry, you're welcome.

Here's mine after I rt clk'd on my Documents Folder like you show in Scrsht 11:




I'd like to wait until you reply to my question in Scrsht 12, if it is a remnant of the process try deleting the one on the dsktp and see if the one in send to also disappears. If it stays in send to, test it, and if you're still having problems I'd suggest you could go back to: Option One: To Add or Remove Items in Send To context menu for Your Account (current user) and do Step 3 to remove it and start over using Step 4 but be very careful of your steps in creating the shortcut and be sure you d&d that shortcut to the send to part of the address.

I'm busy today and I probably won't be back until the evening.

 

Optical Drive Issue

Hello Anak –

Appreciate your detailed return. Your added steps really helped.

Assuming I did the steps correctly, this is where I am now.

Screenshot 12 shows my CD Disc shortcut on my desktop.
Screenshot 10 shows the CD Drive shortcut listed in the “Send to” listing.
Screenshot 11 shows the “Send to” listing after the steps were taken, but the CD drive name is not listed.

So, it appears the steps did not work for me. And, I did try the steps, “If it still won’t do ……” and still no luck.

What do you think?

JerryA