Windows 11 Defender Offline Malware Scan

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I had a scary situation!

Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) refused to run.

  Fortunately the solution was actually very simple: before attempting any complicated, possibly lossy repair or potentially dangerous interventions, first run Windows’ own innocuous Windows Trouble-Shooter:
Start > Settings > Windows Update > Advanced Options > Recovery > Fix problems without … > Other trouble-shooters > Windows Update > [Run]

YES! That did it! 
My system was repaired and now Windows willingly runs Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan).

Note: It’s not really offline. But that scan option restarts the computer and then Microsoft itself scans your computer over the internet before Windows is loaded and running. That way any malware infection inside Windows gets thwarted and removed (I think) before it goes live.
(But I don’t know what happens with rootscum.)

Conclusion: Always try Windows’ Trouble-Shooter first. Maybe it won’t be a cure, but I’m sure it will not make things worse.

 

1 Desktop W11
1 Laptop W10
Both tweaked to look, behave and feel like Windows 95

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Alex5723

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Lady Luck was unusually willing.

1 Desktop W11
1 Laptop W10
Both tweaked to look, behave and feel like Windows 95

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E Pericoloso Sporgersi wrote:

My system was repaired

The question : why can’t you rely on Microsoft utilities to perform every time ?
One of the reasons I use 3rd party (utilities) A/V (Kaspersky).

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