Windows Defender Identifies The SAME PUP As A Threat Repeatedly

Glen,

Thanks for the reply. I tried to follow these instructions:

Until Microsoft sees fit to fix this problem,  you can prevent the repeating error indication, by deleting the

items that are described in Windows Defender Protection History. You can delete them by accessing their files,

that are located in C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scans\History\Service.

In the "Service" folder, find and delete "Detection History". 

Note:  Program Data is a hidden file. In order to access it, the "Hidden Files" option in "File Explorer" must be

checked.  Find the "Hidden Files" check box under the "View Tab".

I can't follow your instructions as I can't 'get past' \scans\ to access \History\Service.

I feel kind of uneasy as I understand that there are still unremediated problems on my laptop but if they have been blocked by Defender, do they represent a real danger or is it just a cosmetic pain because they exist in the History record?

Regards,

Steve

Hi Steve,

Sorry, I should not have left out the instruction, that answers your question.

The first time that you access "Scan", you must click "Continue" in the popup.

This gives you permission to access "Scan" now, and for evermore.

You may need to be operating from an "Administrator" account.

The objects identified in Protection History, show a "container file", that describes

the location of the file that was detected. If Defender, or any other scanner that you

have employed, has failed to delete that file, you can explore to the location described,

and manually delete it.  In the case of "PUPs", this is probably so.

Glen

Since the implementation of W10 V2004, Windows Defender has now been defaulted to identify

PUPS as a threat.  As a result, many are now made aware of their presence.  And they are "remediated",

on the spot, to prevent them from causing any mischief.

The problem occurs on the subsequent scans with Windows Defender. It identifies the same PUP again,

and again. It has been determined that this is caused by the presence of the PUP in Protection History.

It appears that the default remediation that Windows Defender applies to PUPs is to Block them,

then leave them in Protection History .

EDIT:  It has been found that malware other than PUPS, can require this same procedure.

           Some have discovered, that even Trojans exhibit this same characteristic, when remediated by

          Windows Defender in W10 v2004.

If you have any malware, remediated by Windows Defender, that alerts repeatedly, this procedure applies to

it as well. In order to cleanup the malware completely, find the file in the "container file" in the Protection

History record, and delete the file that is described. If you can't find or access the file, run the Microsoft

Safety Scanner. It uses the same definitions as Windows Defender, and should remediate  the file.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/intelligence/safety-scanner-download 

Then proceed to delete the Protection History info.

END EDIT.

Windows Defender is defaulted to scan its own "Scans/History". Resulting in the discovery of the malware over

and over again.  Even though, other scanners see no evidence of the malware on the PC.       It doesn't exist!

Until Microsoft sees fit to fix this problem,  you can prevent the repeating error indication, by deleting the

items that are described in Windows Defender Protection History. You can delete them by accessing their files,

that are located in C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scans\History\Service.

In the "Service" folder, find and delete "Detection History". 

Note:  Program Data is a hidden file. In order to access it, the "Hidden Items" option in "File Explorer" must be

checked.  Find the "Hidden Items" check box under the "View Tab".

And, the first time that you access "Scans", you must select "continue", to obtain the permission.

Restart and try another scan.    Notifications for the current malware should stop.  

However, this program miscue will probably reoccur, when the next PUP / Malware is encountered.  

Glen 

Thank You .  I ran the scan twice  but the MSERT did not remove the file.  Since it has been quarantined does that mean it is basically harmless,  if I do not click on it or try to open it? Thanks again.

Hi K. E. W,

The reason why Microsoft Safety Scanner couldn't detect it, is because its "container"

file has probably already been deleted.

The alert that Windows Defender was presenting, was caused by the presence of

the malware only in Protection History.      No other scanner could detect it.

This is the program error in W10 v2004, that Microsoft will have to fix.

Glen