Windows Defender is malfunctioning, fails to restart, and repeatedly shuts down.
Windows Defender is malfunctioning, fails to restart, and repeatedly shuts down.
It began when I was using Overwatch 2 on a weekend. Suddenly my PSU malfunctioned, causing my PC to crash and loop indefinitely. In short, it damaged my motherboard and RAM. To fix this, I replaced the PSU, motherboard, and RAM. Most of my hardware survived, and I ran tests: OCC and Intel for CPU, MSI Afterburner for GPU, plus benchmarking tools and disk health checks—everything passed.
However, after reinstalling games and drivers, my PC would freeze or crash during multiplayer games with anti-cheat features. Windows Defender also stopped functioning properly amid these issues. I tried several fixes: SFC/Scannow, DISM commands, updating and removing Windows Defender signatures via CMD/PowerShell, registry edits for DisableAntiSpyware, OS cleanup with Disk Cleanup, and even reinstalling from scratch using older or newer Windows versions, MBR/GPT disks, and manual updates.
I also attempted a clean install, but the problem persisted even after getting a legitimate Windows 10 license key. I’ve attached my MSInfo, DxDiag, and other error logs for reference.
Some games work fine: Resident Evil 2, 3, 4 (all remakes), Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, Age of Darkness, Civ 6, Ready or Not, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3, Tribes of Midgard. Games that freeze/crash: Naraka: Bladepoint, Fortnite, Overwatch 2, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (likely all anti-cheat games).
Apologies for the lengthy update. Any assistance with this issue would be greatly appreciated.
No major findings yet. I checked for more information, but it seems this issue should be fixed in the upcoming Windows Security Update. These are the only records I have.
It seems there was a problem with the update, and you can't revert it after October 5, 2023. Consider going back to the version before KB5012170 was released.
I removed the latest update and restarted the computer, yet the problem persists.
The update remains active. Everything was working on 10/05/2023—try removing them now.