Windows Defender Identifies The SAME PUP As A Threat Repeatedly

Anonymous
2020-06-16T21:00:07+00:00

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:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scans\History\Service.

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

Note:  ProgramData 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

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-01-06T11:08:35+00:00

    Hi Glen,

    i do not get any popup. It just simply won't open the Scan folder

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-01-08T22:27:27+00:00

    Hi Djvesic,

    You are not the first to run into this situation. It can be caused by the presence of certain

    malware on your PC. 

    Download and run a full scan with MalwareBytes. Set it to Scan for Rootkits, and allow it

    to cleanup all that it finds.

    You can find a free copy of MalwareBytes at MalwareBytes.com.

    Then follow the instructions that follow. This helped a fellow poster, with your situation.

    Hi Labeeb,

    Your inability to access "Scans", even in administrative mode, is disconcerting.

    That may indicate the presence of corruption in your OS.

    You can test for that condition by using DISM and SFC. If you like, enter Command Prompt

    by clicking "Start" and type "cmd". Select "Run as Administrator".  On the Command Prompt

    Admin screen, type the following commands.

    DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth  and hit <enter>.

    Allow it time to finish. It takes a little while. 

    Then type SFC /scannow   and hit <enter>  Allow it time to finish.  If it finds any errors,

    run it again, until it runs clean.

    Type Exit to leave Command Prompt.

    Restart your PC, and see if you can access "Scans" now.

    If you can't, it may be necessary to perform a Repair Upgrade. The procedure replaces

    your OS, but keeps your Apps & Files. If you have been able to overcome the repeating

    alert from Defender, using the methods previously described, you may not want to go

    this far.        However,  

    The Repair Upgrade is a very solid procedure, if your PC configuration is HDD only or

    SSD only. The two combined, has been problematic a few times in the past. If that is

    your PC configuration, you should create a system backup, before proceeding.

    Should you elect to do the Repair, you download the Creation Tool from here.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

    Right click the downloaded file and choose "Run as Administrator".

    Choose "Upgrade this PC now" and the procedure will begin. Answer any questions

    logically, and when asked "what to keep", ensure that both the OS and Apps & Files

    are selected.

    The procedure takes about an hour to complete. Your PC will restart several times. And

    sometimes it appears to be doing nothing. Be patient, when it is finished your "sign in"

    screen will appear.  Your PC will be just as it was before the Repair, but without corruption.

    You should be able to access "Scans", if you ever need to again. And anything else that

    the corruption was going to affect, should not occur. 

    Good luck,  Glen

    Labeeb Khan

    Sir, I did what all you said- Opened Command prompt and did all which you said and it really worked it said that it found some threats and repaired them(I haven't given a try to open "Scans" till this time) but I also thought at that time that; actually I had a game in my pc with the extension .exe so I was just giving a deep thought about my pc issues and suddenly then it clicked my mind that I don't think so that .exe file is good for pc and I Googled it, hopefully found it so I at the very moment deleted that game and then came back and tried to open "Scans" and I was able to to the same and a popup showed to "Continue" or "Cancel". Honestly Sir, I was totally stunned at that very moment, I was so happy.

    That moment was unexplainable. Furthermore, I did what all You said and finally deleted the "Detection History" folder then restarted my pc and tbh I was very hopeful and scared at that moment. The error was no longer there and I was so happy.

    Actually all this time I was so panicked just because this is my first personal pc and it's expensive and it's been just, I think 4-5 months since I bought it so I don't want a threat so early in my pc.

    Thank you very much, Mr. Glen!!

    I am really very grateful to you.

    Good luck Djvesic,  Glen

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-01-09T00:11:41+00:00

    Thank you, Glen, for trying.

    I have opened a separate thread for this because none of the answers I have found helped and I definitely have no malwares as you can see in the thread where it was suggested to do what you have suggested here.

    Anyways, this is the thread link, the suggestion of yours is one before last. Please take a look at the whole thread, maybe it can help somebody in the future:

    Double click is not opening Windows Defender\Scans folder

    After doing suggested steps and restarting my laptop I got the popup, chose "Continue" and was able to access "Scans" go to "Service" and delete "Detection History". 

    All is good now.

    Thank you again for doing this.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-01-09T21:47:21+00:00

    Thanks for the info Djvesic,

    I am glad to hear that you were able to solve your problem.

    Glen

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