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  • Re: Windows 11 is warning "Virus protection is off," Microsoft confirms

    From Sun Wukong@3:633/10 to All on Thu Sep 3 17:28:13 2026
    Subject: Re: Windows 11 is warning "Virus protection is off," Microsoft confirms it's false, but verify if Defender is actually enabled

    Mr. Chang Man-wai wrote:

    Windows 11 is warning "Virus protection is off," Microsoft confirms it's false, but verify if Defender is actually enabled <https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/08/30/windows-11-is-warning-virus-protection-is-off-but-microsoft-confirms-its-false/>


    For a solution worth trying, see <https://www.reddit.com/r/windowsinsiders/comments/1ul8qpn/virus_protection_is_turned_off_tap_or_click_to/>


    Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.windows7.general,comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.win32

    Removed irrelevant xpost groups
    * alt.windows7.general .................... this problem does not occur on Windows 7
    * alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt .......... this is not a PC hardware problem * comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.win32 ..... this is for end users not programmers

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul@3:633/10 to All on Fri Sep 4 04:25:16 2026
    Subject: Re: Windows 11 is warning "Virus protection is off," Microsoft confirms it's false, but verify if Defender is actually enabled

    On Fri, 9/4/2026 2:12 AM, ....winston wrote:
    On 09/04/2026 12:39 AM, Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson wrote:
    On 03/09/2026 7:59 AM, Mr. Chang Man-wai wrote:

    Windows 11 is warning "Virus protection is off," Microsoft confirms it's false, but verify if Defender is actually enabled
    <https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/08/30/windows-11-is-warning-virus- protection-is-off-but-microsoft-confirms-its-false/>

    I now use BitDefender for all of my anti-virus needs.˙ Well, sort of,
    I also have I.B.M. anti-virus for D.O.S. but it complains it's not been
    updated recently.

    Yet, I somehow get the warning from Windows -- I forgot the exact
    verbage -- that my very own recently compiled .exe files are blocked
    from execution.˙

    Could be MSFT Smart Screen or similar file protection hardening.
    ˙Have you considered looking at the properties of the executable(*.exe file) and toggling on the Unblock field(i.e. to unblock the exe file)


    SmartScreen should check with the Cloud, and for any EXE for which
    "few downloads of it have been detected", then if you leave SmartScreen enabled, you will receive such warnings.

    This is the pretty standard "reputational" analysis afforded by
    low quality AV products. The AV product may have "nothing serious"
    to report on a given day, no "actual" malware. But if it complains
    about every executable file for which it has never seen the SHA256
    value before, the screen will present a number of warning Notifications.

    That's not a malware detection. That is a detection of an "infrequently
    seen file". And this mainly annoys developers. The same thing happens,
    when as a small developer, you give a dozen copies of your work to testers,
    and all of their attempts to run the code are blocked.

    This has also been a bug for the ecosystem, there was a period of months
    where a bunch of stuff was mis-classified. And that has now stopped.
    I was clicking through endless inappropriate assertions during that period.
    If I put something on the D: drive today, I am no longer pestered like that.

    Paul

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From R.Wieser@3:633/10 to All on Fri Sep 4 17:28:57 2026
    Subject: Re: Windows 11 is warning "Virus protection is off," Microsoft confirms it's false, but verify if Defender is actually enabled

    Paul,

    That's not a malware detection. That is a detection of an "infrequently
    seen file".

    A signature-scanning AV products doesn't do malware detection either. It
    just compares a hash with a list of known malware, and tells you if it found
    a match.

    This "seldom seen" mechanism fixes the problem of signature-scanning AV products, which always have a delay between the malware being deployed and
    it being detected* and marked as such.

    * with such detection never happening on the users 'puter.

    Both methods have their own shortcomings.

    Regards,
    Rudy Wieser



    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)