Asked By
Maxwell
200 points
N/A
Posted on - 05/29/2011
I am using Windows Vista and it comes with the preinstalled Windows Defender. Now my problem is that when I click on the Windows Defender a window pops up and says “Application failed to Initialize”.
To correct this I went to the Microsoft Windows website and tried to download Windows Defender but it says I don’t need to download it because defender is included in my Vista pack. I am out of ideas now and don’t know how to start it. Please help me out to use this service as Windows rarely provide you with free stuff that is worth running on your PC.
Application failed to initialize error using Windows Defender
Hi,
I've read the issue that you have with the windows defender and here are the steps to resolve the issue:
Here are some of the reasons why Windows Defender may stop working, or encounter problems when trying to restart. If there is a virus infecting the computer and damaging the registry, windows defender won’t start. The other one is if you have uninstalled a virus protection on the computer and it’s not totally uninstalled on the registry of the computer this can also block windows defender from opening. If Windows Defender has been manually disabled on the computer then it won’t start. If the one of the files on the windows operating system has been corrupted, so we just need to type sfc/scannow on the command prompt so that it will be automatically be repaired. And lastly, if the operating system that you had installed is not genuine.
We can start the windows defender by doing the following:
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Click Start button.
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On the start search bar, we need to type “services.msc.
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The Services window will open up.
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On the right-hand side, you will see a list of programs on the services windows.
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Scroll to the very bottom part of the list and look for Windows Defender.
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Right-click Windows Defender.
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Click on “Proprieties”.
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The “Properties” window will load up.
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On the “General” tab.
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Set the Startup type to “Automatic (Delayed)”.
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On the Service Status, it will show: “Stopped”.
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Click on “Start” at the upper left side of the screen.
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The Windows Defender will start.
If this won’t resolve the issue, we need to check if you have any other virus protections installed on the computer that might be blocking the windows defender from starting up. You can also check for updates that will activate the windows defender.
If there are no other virus protection installed on the computer, have a system restore on the computer.
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Click Start.
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Click All Programs.
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Put the mouse pointer over the word Accessories.
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Click System Tools.
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Click System Restore.
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On the Welcome to System Restore page.
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Select the Restore my computer to an earlier time option.
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Click Next.
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On the Select a Restore Point page.
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Click the most recent system restore point in the on this list.
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Click a restore point list.
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Click Next (A System Restore message may appear that lists configuration changes that System Restore will make. Click OK.)
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On the Confirm Restore Point Selection page, click next.
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System Restore brings back the previous Windows XP configuration, and then restarts the computer.
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Log on to the computer as an Administrator then click OK on the System Restore Restoration Complete page.
After finishing these steps, you should be able to access the programs on the computer.
Application failed to initialize error using Windows Defender
It is also possible that there are other errors in your hard drive that are affecting the functionality of Windows. For an application to start successfully it needs to completely initialize first. If the initialization was interrupted the application would eventually not load or will stop loading. You need first to check your hard drive for any possible errors it already accumulated.
Use a disk utility application to check it. You can also download Norton SystemWorks or the latest version, Norton Utilities to help scan your drive. It is a great tool for diagnosing and fixing a drive for any possible errors in the file structures, any invalid entries, misreported free space, cross-linked files, misallocated file space, and others. Or you can also use Windows disk check tool.
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Right click on drive C and then select Properties.
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Click Tools tab.
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Click Check Now.
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Check Automatically fix file system errors.
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Click Start.
Try running the application again after the disk check. If fixing your drive did not help fix the problem, it is possible that there are other applications in your computer that are conflicting with Windows Defender. It is also possible that your computer is already infected and that the virus is preventing Windows Defender from loading.
In this case, update your antivirus and then run a full system scan on your computer. If you did not find any virus after doing a virus scan, the last option is to format your hard drive and install Windows again. This will restore Windows’ settings and configuration back to the default and will surely fix Windows Defender’s initialization problem.
