Can webroot and window defender be used together without conflict?

  • 12 March 2016
  • 2 replies
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Can webroot and window defender be used together without conflict?

2 replies

Userlevel 5
Badge +1
@ wrote:

 
But Windows 10 will not allow you to have both Windows Defender and Webroot enabled at the same time. This is a function of Windows, not Webroot. The same will be true of any AV you install on Windows 10.

If you had Windows Defender active at the time you installed Webroot, Webroot will have become the active AV software, and Windows will have automatically disabled Windows Defender. In the event that Webroot is disabled or uninstalled, Windows will automatically re-enable Windows Defender and keep it turned on until you enable or re-install Webroot.
 
But if you want to look here at this KB Article it will tell you how to run Windows Defender.

This kb article that you refer to seems to be a great solution for those of us who previously used WRSA plus MS Security Essentials (MSE) on Windows 7 as an extra layer of security, but now after upgrading to Windows 10 we discover that WRSA and Windows Defender cannot co-exist, unlike WD and for example Malwarebytes Pro which does not register itself as an AV in Windows.
 
But I am wondering, when running MSE on Windows 7 and WRSA together I was told that WRSA recognises and accepts that MSE get's "first choice" to deal with malware and that if it fails then WRSA steps in and deals with it instead. So in this new situation on Windows 10 where the registry is tweaked to allow Defender and WRSA to run together, does WRSA actually recognise and accept that it is now forced to co-exist with Defender and give it first priority over detecting and handling malware, or does it instead act as if it is the sole malware software on Windows 10 and ends up wrestling and conflicting with Defender over malware it detects ?!!
 
Related to the above question, does it make any difference in this scenario above if WRSA is set to allow / ignore Windows Defender .exe files? My thinking here is that if set to ignore WD .exe, then perhaps WRSA no longer even knows that WD is active?
 
So in summary, I want to use this registry fix as you suggested, so that I can run WD and WRSA together, but how will WRSA deal with WD in this situation when it is not intended to co-exist with WD on Windows 10 ?
 
Thanks!
 
 
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Hello nipper777
 
Welcome to the Webroot Community,
 
Yes you can run WD with W/7 without conflict.
 
But Windows 10 will not allow you to have both Windows Defender and Webroot enabled at the same time. This is a function of Windows, not Webroot. The same will be true of any AV you install on Windows 10.

If you had Windows Defender active at the time you installed Webroot, Webroot will have become the active AV software, and Windows will have automatically disabled Windows Defender. In the event that Webroot is disabled or uninstalled, Windows will automatically re-enable Windows Defender and keep it turned on until you enable or re-install Webroot.
 
But if you want to look here at this KB Article it will tell you how to run Windows Defender.
 
IMO you only need Webroot for full priotection which far surpassess WD.

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