Win 10 Windows Defender a/v notifications doing my head in!

[trevortron]

I have a Win10 laptop (ex 8.1) and a while back I activated the Windows Defender antivirus as I'd read a few reviews (here and elsewhere) saying it's as good as if not better than other free a/v products.
All was fine until a recent Win10 update (Creators' edition). The issue I have now may or may not be connected to that but it did start shortly afterwards, hence the mention.
Every few minutes I get a Windows notification (and the associated pling) telling me that threats have been found. I open the notification panel, click on one of the notifications; this opens the Windows Defender Security Center which tells me "0 threats found" , and x files scanned. x varies from a few thousand to tens of thousands.
Just to be on the safe side I ran a couple of scans with Malwarebytes and I even tried another malware program called Zemana after seeing it mentioned on a MS forum. Neither found any threats.
I've done a search and although others appear to have had similar problems, none of the solutions helped me.
I've tried switching off notifications in Windows, still getting the regular plings. Thing is, there isn't an obvious way to deactivate Defender.
I have lived with it for over a fortnight now in the hope an update might come along and miraculously fix it but alas, no.
Any ideas?
TIA.

 

[Spectre]

I have a Win10 laptop (ex 8.1) and a while back I activated the Windows Defender antivirus as I'd read a few reviews (here and elsewhere) saying it's as good as if not better than other free a/v products.
All was fine until a recent Win10 update (Creators' edition). The issue I have now may or may not be connected to that but it did start shortly afterwards, hence the mention.
Every few minutes I get a Windows notification (and the associated pling) telling me that threats have been found. I open the notification panel, click on one of the notifications; this opens the Windows Defender Security Center which tells me "0 threats found" , and x files scanned. x varies from a few thousand to tens of thousands.
Just to be on the safe side I ran a couple of scans with Malwarebytes and I even tried another malware program called Zemana after seeing it mentioned on a MS forum. Neither found any threats.
I've done a search and although others appear to have had similar problems, none of the solutions helped me.
I've tried switching off notifications in Windows, still getting the regular plings. Thing is, there isn't an obvious way to deactivate Defender.
I have lived with it for over a fortnight now in the hope an update might come along and miraculously fix it but alas, no.
Any ideas?
TIA.

Is it seeing cookies as threats but masking them from being shown somewhere in the settings?

I'd be more concerned about the mandatory Win8/10 "user experience" feedback or whatever it is called than viruses .

 

[trevortron]

Is it seeing cookies as threats but masking them from being shown somewhere in the settings?

I have no idea, how would I be able to tell? Would clearing all cookies eliminate this possibility- even if it temporarily stopped the notifications?

I'd be more concerned about the mandatory Win8/10 "user experience" feedback or whatever it is called than viruses .

Funny you should mention that as, after the big update all my previous 'opt-outs' had been returned to default 'on'. I had to switch them all off again.

 

[Spectre]

I have no idea, how would I be able to tell? Would clearing all cookies eliminate this possibility- even if it temporarily stopped the notifications?



Funny you should mention that as, after the big update all my previous 'opt-outs' had been returned to default 'on'. I had to switch them all off again.

Could try deleting cookies @trevortron, then without going online do a scan.

 

[Josh Ross]

Adwcleaner and Hitman Pro scans would yield better results than Zemana. In any case, have you tried booting Windows in "safe mode with networking" and trying to enable/disable fix Windows defenders registry? Would also recommend changing your updates again, in safe mode.

 

[trevortron]

Could try deleting cookies @trevortron, then without going online do a scan.

Tried this and the notifications did calm down for a bit, in fact not even one until I went online again. But they floated back, every 2 or 3 minutes, which is annoying when listening to music through a bluetooth speaker.

Adwcleaner and Hitman Pro scans would yield better results than Zemana.

Adwcleaner did find a few pup's, some I knew about but was more than happy to see the back of (remnants of AVG for example) and Hitman Pro found and deleted even more.
Then finally Windows defender's notification claimed to have found "win32/adload!rfn", a trojan I believe. I allowed it to quarantine & delete it, it's been 5 minutes now and no plings.
Strange though the none of the other programs (MWB, Adw, Zemana, Hitman) found it, I would have thought a trojan would be quite high on the list of targets.

In any case, have you tried booting Windows in "safe mode with networking" and trying to enable/disable fix Windows defenders registry? Would also recommend changing your updates again, in safe mode.

I know how to boot into Safe Mode but as to the rest??? To fix something one has to know (a) what's wrong, and (b) how to fix it. And "change updates"? I don't know what you mean.