Windows 10: Security and Maintaince, Windows Defender, and 3rd party security

After accidentally updating to Windows 10 (If you want to know, I was trying to set it up to install a month or so later, but accidentally clicked the "install now" option. It must have been downloading in the background as, half an hour later, my computer restarts and began the upgrade.), Windows Defender got in my face saying my computer wasn't safe, it needed to update, and run a scan. I went along with the updating and scanning. Then I did some poking around after Windows Defender had started guarding over my computer. I found that the security suite I already use (Charter Security Suite, which they get from F-Secure) was running at the same time as Windows Defender.

Being away that it isn't the best idea to have to anti-virus/spyware/etc. suites running concurrently I went to the Security and Maintenance window to switch Windows Defender off and make the Charter Security Suite my primary security suite. But I couldn't. After clicking view installed apps under both virus and spyware protection "Computer Security" and "Windows Defender" were located. Weird. But "Computer Security" had the F-Secure logo. So I selected it, but the option to turn it on was greyed out. Likewise the option to the Windows Defender off was greyed out.

I have opened and was able to turn Windows Defender off (kind of, I stopped it'd real-time scans and other "off" options it presented) in the program itself. But looking under the Task Manager, under details, the program MsMpEng.exe (which I read is Window's Defender) is still running and sucking up resources. Likewise I opened up Charter Security Suite, ran an update, and generally made sure it was working. It is. Security and Maintenance just won't let me give it priority.

Admittedly I haven't done a huge heap of research into Windows 10. As mentioned previously I had planned to stay away from it for a while and let the initial kinks get sorted out. But Charter Security Suite didn't throw up any compatibility flags when Windows checked prior to the upgrade between Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

I'm not looking to change security suites. So please don't mention any. But I would like some advise, as I'm not a serious techie and have no idea what is causing this conflict. Am I the only person having this kind of issue? Do I need to uninstall and reinstall Charter Security Suite? Would it be best to restore to Windows 8.1 and wait things out as I initially intended to? If I do, will I be able to get in on the free upgrade to Windows 10 again?

:)

 

Windows Defender

Well, actually third party security programs replace Defender. It is a full security program.

 

Two anti-virus soluions running at the same time

The previous answer seems confusing. When you install a 3rd party AV in Windows 10 the Defender is turned off and virus protection is turned over to the 3rd party AV. In your case Avast.

The Security Centre is an extension of security support in Windows 10 and was added in the Creators update to give more functionality. I guess that isn't affected by Avast but Defender is.

 

You'll need to follow this Tutorial to shut Windows Defender off from your Administrator account. Afterward, be certain your security suite is running properly.

 

I would recommend uninstalling and reinstalling Charter/F-Secure. As a major player, it should know how to turn off Windows Defender during its install.

I had a problem with Norton during the upgrade process. An uninstall and reinstall took care of the problem.

 

As I understand it, the upgrade is supposed to uninstall any third party A/V to avoid this exact conflict; although they did suggest in some of their notes that they recommended to uninstall manually prior to upgrading.

 

Uninstalling and reinstalling Charter/F-Secure security suite did the trick. Glad it was such a simple solution. Thank you for the advise and comments