Computer hung in System Restore

[zz]

Windows 8 computer hung in System Restore while trying to restore using Tweaking.com.  Left it on all night and screen still showing "Please wait while Windows files and settings are being restored System Restore is initializing".


Advise please.

[Shane]

You can reboot and it should be fine.

Where you trying to restore after you ran my program?

If so what program of mine did you run and what happened that made you want to do a restore? My Repair program uses my reg backup program. 90% of the repairs are registry related. All you have to do is restore the registry with that to put your system back to what it was before instead of system restore

Shane

[zz]

Thanks I did reboot.  I had run tweaking.com after having problems turning on Windows Defender in Win8.  That is when it hung in system restore.

I since have learned using another anti virus on a windows 8 computer turns off Windows Defender so you won't be running two anti virus programs.  Which is good.  What is bad is you will not be able to turn Windows Defender back on even after uninstalling the other anti virus program

 It would of been nice to of known that before I tried a trial version of Advance SystemCare 6 Ultimate.
 It was my hope that tweaking.com could fix the problem with windows defender.  It did not.

After I ran tweaking.com I tried to turn Windows Defender on again and it caused a box to pop up that says system32. 
This was when I tried to repair the registry.  It did not fix the windows defender problem of not turning on either.
 
So I spent a lot of time searching for answers and found that a lot of people have the same problem with windows defender in win8 that I have and no one has found a fix.  Not even Microsoft it seems has addressed this problem.   From what I have read it does not mater what anti virus you install and later uninstall you will have this problem.

[Shane]

You should be able to turn it back on fine. Any other AV will simply set the service to disabled and nothing more.

When the Windows defender is that messed up it is normally due to a virus taking it out.

Try the malwarebytes anti rootkit, it is different than their normal scanner
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/mbar/

Let me know if it finds anything.

Shane

[zz]

Shane as mentioned lots of people are having this problem there are discussions on the Microsoft site but no post from Microsoft addressing the problem on the topics.  Windows Defender in Windows 8 does not come back on after installing and then uninstalling anti virus software for me or for a lot of people.   The anti virus program used might make a difference here.  I don't know.  The one I used was Advanced SystemCare 6 Ultimate.
I have those two programs you mentioned and have used them on my last three computers.  I ran them and they found no issues.
 It is just frustrating.
I have installed Avast and will use it until someone comes up with a real fix.  Who knows by then I may not want to switch back. 
Thanks for your suggestions.

[Rick]

Have you updated your system with the system readiness tool?

have you manually checked that you have restore points?

when the system hangs, how long does it hang, some restore point can take a half an hour!

 try restore in safe mode with networking support?

[zz]

Hi Rick.  I left it on all night and it stayed hung.  So as Shane suggested I rebooted.  Avast is working ok so will continue to use it for now.
Yes I have restore points.   My computer is just a couple months old Windows 8.  Only problem is with Windows Defender. 

[Shane]

Lets see if the regkey is in the registry.

Check it here

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinDefend

Shane

[zz]

Yes it is.

[Shane]

Here is the reg file for that service, edit the regfile and compare it to the keys on your system and see if anything is missing

Shane

[zz]

Thanks Shane but changing the registry might be above my skills and comfort level.   The warning message scares me a bit.

[Willy2]

- The "paid for" version of AVAST doesn't disable WinDefender (WD). I know because I have that AVAST version on my Win 7 system.
- A different matter is MS Security Essentials (MSSE). WD is disabled when you install MSSE. And when you un-install MSSE then WD is enabled again.
- The newest AVAST version is not bugfree. Assuming this is an AVAST related problem, it's best to report your problem to AVAST. AVAST explicitly has been asking for people to report bugs in their software. (Another Win 8 "app store" problem ?).
- Install Tweaking's Registry Backup. And let it automatically run upon startup. It will help you because info on Services are stored in the registry. It reduces the need for a "System Restore" by say 90%. (I have used this program to restore my registry some 10 times in the last 12 months).

[Shane]

No need to change anything, just wanted you to compare what is in the file and what you have in the reg so we can see if anything is different

Shane

[Rick]

Hi Rick.  I left it on all night and it stayed hung.  So as Shane suggested I rebooted.  Avast is working ok so will continue to use it for now.
Yes I have restore points.   My computer is just a couple months old Windows 8.  Only problem is with Windows Defender.

Is there anything in the event log to indicate anything we can understand?

is Windefender running in services automatically set to delayed?

when you run msconfig, is Windender running?

shane might write a program to enable WinDefendr if he has not already to enable windenfender

Denfender might It might be that Avast is not compatible to run with Win 8 yet