Turning on Windows Firewall and Defender in Windows 8

Anonymous
2012-10-30T04:10:31+00:00

My firewall and Windows Defender seem to be off. I just got Windows 8 last Friday and I cannot get it to turn on. When I go to the Windows Defender App, it says "Windows Defender has been turned off and is not protecting your computer." How do I turn it on then?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Security and privacy

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Anonymous
2012-10-30T16:47:45+00:00

Hi Matkor,

Welcome to Microsoft community!!!

Based on the case details I understand that you are unable to turn on Windows Firewall and Windows Defender, it would be grateful if you can reply to these question in order to assist you further.

  1. Have you made any changes to the computer prior to this issue?
  2. Do you have any other security software installed on your computer?

I would suggest you to try the following methods and check if it helps.

Method 1:

I would suggest you to check the Service status of Windows Firewall and Windows Defender

a) Press Windows key + R and type services.msc in the search field and press ENTER.

b) Scroll down to find " Windows Defender Service ".

c) Right-click " Windows Defender service “, and then click Start.

d) Follow the same steps to start "Windows Firewall" service.

e) Check if the issue persists.

Method 2:

Try the following method to enable Windows Firewall and Windows Defender:

Windows Firewall

a. On the Windows 8 User Interface Start screen select control panel or right click on the bottom left corner on the desktop to select control panel.

b. Click Windows Firewall, In the left pane, click Turn Windows Firewall on or off.

c. Click Turn on Windows Firewall under each network location that you want to help protect, and then click OK.

Windows Defender

a. Press the ‘Windows + Q key on the keyboard.

b. Type “Windows Defender” in the search box and then press enter.

c. Click Settings and make sure there is a check mark on Turn on real time protection recommend.

Please post the results and let us know if you need further assistance to fix the issue and we will be happy to help you further.

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Anonymous
2015-04-02T19:29:27+00:00

Hi P. MichaelVan Sant,

Sorry for the delay in replying.

As you have an expired trial version of MacAfee, you may remove or uninstall this and restart the computer to check if this helps. It is not good to have multiple security software installed on the computer as there might be software conflict which will affect the overall performance of the computer.

Keep us informed to help you further.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-30T11:15:11+00:00

    I have a new Win8 laptop and have been having issues with Windows Firewall, also.   I cannot turn it on with any of the methods listed above.  I always get the error "Firewall cannot be turned on".   Using the "Use recommended settings" button doesn't work either.

    I have not installed any other AV or firewall software. Windows defender seems to be working OK but a full scan turned up nothing. Only after having issues I did try a number of different malware scans (Super Anti Spyware, AVG, ...) and did find some low level threats and obnoxious cookies. 

    I confirmed via services (winkey +R) that is is off.  The Status is blank.

    When I try to manually start it, the message is :

    "Windows cannot start firewall on Local Computer.  For more information refer to the Systems Event Log.  If this is a Non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor and refer to error code 5."

    I don't see anything in the Event Log.  I'm not sure what error code 5 is.

    I've seen this issues on dozens of forums but no good answers from Microsoft.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-23T16:12:18+00:00

    Somebody help with this issue.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-04-09T17:35:18+00:00

    McAfee "was" on the Windows 8 computer.  I used add/remove programs then followed up with the McAfee removal tool to ensure a complete removal. Feeling optimistic, I went searching for the defender tool (took longer than I think it should and made me further dislike the new Windows 8).  Anyway, I eventually found it but when I selected it I received the following message:

    #1. "Windows Defender has been turned off and isn't monitoring your computer. If you're using another app to check for malicious or unwanted software, use action 

    center to check that app's status."

    There are no other apps running to check for malicious or unwanted software that I know of.  I followed the instructions from your reply (Vijin V, a support engineer) and had the following results:

    Method 1: I received the same message listed above as #1.

    Method 2: I went straight to the Windows Defender step. After pressing enter, defender seemed to be starting up (for about a second) then disappeared and the following message appeared:

    #2 "The Window's Defender Service started then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs."

    As others in the linked thread have stated, I can't believe this is so difficult to get done. One would think that Microsoft would make it easier to solve this problem that many people appear to be having. I'd also think a better error message that actually identified any conflicting programs/apps so the user knew exactly what the potential problem was.  Anyway, enough of the wishful thinking/soapbox... Any ideas/help would be appreciated.

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