Windows Defender Error Code: 0x80073afc

Anonymous
2015-03-23T22:21:12+00:00

Hi, I receive this error code when i try to open Windows Defender and it says: An error as occurred, in the program during initialization. If this problem continues, please contact your system administrator. Error code 0x80073afc. And in the Action Center it says that Windows Defender is turned off.

Please help!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Security and privacy

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-05-17T17:51:08+00:00

    it doesn,t resolve my problem....

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-05-17T17:54:21+00:00

    i have done the above process....i make the system restore and windows defender starts working after 2 days its again showing the error 0x80073afc... please resolve my problem...

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-05-19T06:37:09+00:00

    hie babu,

    i've encountered this problem recently.

    i donno what triggered this issue and i've already gone through the procedure mentioned above.

    however,restoring seems to solve this problem for an hour and later it happened again!

    please help me solve this issue.

    will be waiting for ur answers.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-05-19T11:49:20+00:00

    There have been quite a few recent posts about this one:

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/search/search?SearchTerm=0x80073afc+defender&IsSuggestedTerm=true&CurrentScope.ForumName=Protect&CurrentScope.Filter=protect\_defender-protect\_start&ContentTypeScope=#/Protect/protect\_defender-protect\_start//1

    Nothing definitive as to a cause or a solution, but some users have reported that a System Restore resolved the problem. Others reported that it did not help.

    Start here: Problems starting Windows Defender in Windows 8/8.1

    Alternatively, though it may be painful. you may wish to consider --

    Restore, reset, refresh Windows 8: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc -- this may actually be the quickest solution if you don't have lots of installed programs to reinstall.

    -steve

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-05-19T13:53:12+00:00

    This one has been a bit harder to follow than past experiences, Steve. We have seen different behavior and error codes reported for the past 3 months now. Particularly the one that opens the \WINDOWS\win32 folder is pretty weird?

    Any thoughts from the Team you can share with us? Would you think that, perhaps, the new engine (1.1.11701.0) just released might help?

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