Is live protection really on?

B

BigBear

New member
Hello everyone!
I notice a message in my windows action center that says spybot is not on. I clicked it to start it and it attempts to but never come on. I checked with the spybot start center and it says live protection is on and enabled. However, every time i open something, i used to get a spybot scan bar in the bottom right, now i do not. Sometimes, before this problem started, i had to start live protection and a dialog box would come up and it would start. I dont know why it would just stop working.

Anyone have this problem or any suggestions?
Thanks
 
Hello. :)
Try rightclicking the Spybot Start Center and selecting Run as Administrator. Click the live protection status in the start center to open Live Protection settings. Is there a checkmark beside Scan all programs before they start?
 
same issue

I have this same issue. I get this every time I startup the tablet. (SurfacePro Win10)
I've check the status as suggested above and, yes, the checkbox is ticked.
Does this mean I should ignore the pop-up and the defender security box that says that SpyBot protection is off?
(As above, if you try to switch SpyBotS&D on is does nothing.)
 
No, don't ignore the defender security box or the popup.
Please reopen Live Protection. Does it say anything above the Scan all programs before they start checkbox? Does it say "Live Protection is installed, running, but not active!"?
 
it says its active.
since I posted this the pop-up only appears occasionally. its very glitchy and seems like defender is a bit confused.
next time it happens I'll check the live status before doing anything else to see what it says.
(btw, I've never seen a scan bar that was mentioned mentioned in the original post!)
 
I believe it's a bit unusual for you not to have seen the Spybot scan bar associated with Live Protection at the bottom right of your screen. Usually if a process starts, etc. you'd probably see that scan bar, and as far as I am aware that is still part of Spybot's Live Protection. Therefore, you might like to contact Spybot support. There is a contact form here. :)
https://www.safer-networking.org/support/#contactform
 
had the warning popup again, checked the live protection status and it showed active and scan programs as they start. I presume this means that its working? don't understand why the warning appears.
to confirm, re task bar, have attached pics of task bar. SpyBoy icon appears if you tap the up-arrow. but there is no activity bar there. does this look right?

taskbar1.PNG

taskbar2.PNG
 
Yes, that does look right. That is the Spybot tray icon, from which you can get Spybot to perform various functions. :) However, it is not actually Live Protection.
Live Protection does not actually have an icon down by the clock, like teatimer did.
The "spybot scan bar in the bottom right" mentioned in the first post by BigBear is a tiny little scan icon like thing that appears, for instance when Live Protection is scanning a process that opens, etc. I don't currently have Live protection, but I believe it is still normal for that little scan thing to appear when Live Protection is scanning something, for instance if you open a program, etc. ,and it hasn't been changed. If Live Protection is showing as active and the 'scan programs before they start is checkmarked, it would seem it is active. However, where you are getting the defender popup and there is no scan bar in the bottom right appearing intermittently, I am a bit worried. Therefore, I would prefer if you contacted Spybot support to ask them about it and be sure, I would not want you to be going about without some sort of real-time or live protection on your computer. It doesn't mean it isn't working, but I'd like it if you would double check with them. So, if you could please contact them with the contact form, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. :)
https://www.safer-networking.org/support/#contactform
 
ok, thanks :santa: I'll get in touch with support.
I'm still trying to see if there's some specific thing I'm doing/is happening when the defender pop-up arrives or whether its totally random! I assume there must be something triggering the warning.
thanks for your help, appreciate it :)
 
edit to previous post -
pop up just happened as I was on here.
looks like it comes up twice. first time clicking 'turn on' does nothing. second time it works and the SpyBot popup window asking if I'm sure I want spybot to change the system comes up.
looks like something is switching spybot off. (although previous time it happened I went straight to check live protection and apparently it was on.
beguiling.
 
You're welcome, and thank you very much for contacting Spybot support. Please tell them everything you told me here, especially about the Windows Defender Security Center popup. :)

Also, ordinarily it is best to only run one resident (real-time protection, live protection, etc.) at a time. For that reason Windows Defender will shut it's real-time protection off when it detects another antivirus. However, for the time being in light of the Windows Defender popup saying that Live Protection is off sometimes, it's probably best for you to make an exception and see that Windows Defender real-time protection is turned on until you hear back from Spybot support and everything is resolved, as an extra precaution. You could follow the instructions on this page to see if Windows Defender's Real-Time protection is set to on or off:
https://www.isumsoft.com/windows-10/turn-on-or-off-windows-defender-real-time-protection.html
If it is set to off, you could follow this page to turn on Windows Defender real-time protection for the time being until everything with Live Protection and the Windows Defender Security Centre popup is resolved:
https://www.safer-networking.org/pt-br/faq/spybot-defender-windows-10/
 
You're welcome.

Oh, yes, you don't have the defender icon down by the clock, do you? I didn't notice that in your screenshot. An alternate way to open Windows Defender Security Center is to select it from the start menu under w. :)
 
On defender it says 'status is unavailable - check SpyBotS&D for information'. I'm guessing SpyBot is on.
not really using this tablet much at the mo, so not panicking yet.
Have sent to support, btw.
(ohh, i can't type on a surface!.... help!)
 
Haha! I like typing on my tablet, because the onscreen keyboard guesses the word before I'm done typing. Then I move to the laptop and press t and sort of wait for it to spell the word 'the' for me, and nothing happens. :laugh:

Glad you sent to support. Looks like Live Protection is 'On', but where Windows Defender Security Centre is showing popups about it being off, under the circumstances you might want to turn defender's real-time protection On, even if you don't use the Surface much. You can do that by following this. It's a precaution to help keep you safe, just in case. :)
https://www.safer-networking.org/pt-br/faq/spybot-defender-windows-10/
 
had pop-up again while reading this, just after starting windows.
again, there are two initial pop-ups. first one says spybot is off -
defenderpopup1.PNG
second says it's on, and defender is off.
(though a couple of times it has said both off.)
I'd like go know what's triggering that sometimes.

yes, I'll switch defender on for time being.

I'm better at the screen keyboard when reverting to two-finger mode! this is my first tablet so getting used to it :)
I like that you get a selection of keyboards - having arrow keys is handy!
 
That is strange, isn't it? I'd love to know what is triggering that, as well.

Thanks for switching defender on for now. I'm a bit of a worry-wart, as you can probably tell! :D:

I kind of like that the onscreen keyboards have a nice selection of smilies. I have bad luck with voice assistants, they never understand what I'm saying. I can ask them to look up dogs, and I get frogs or something.

Have a safe and happy New Year. :)
 
Yes, happy new year!
Looks like we'll never know. Answer from support was re-install. Did this. (Very different installation process from when I downloaded from website, more dialogs, etc.)
So far only had one pop-up warning - when SpyBot first ran and defender got switched off in the process.
Live protection seems to be on.
But still not seeing this progress icon in the task-bar. Don't even know what I'm looking for!
There is now a little SpyBot icon at the clock end of the task-bar which wasn't there before. Is this it?

(Also, Start Center is still saying the computer has never been scanned, but it has. I'll do another scan later and see if it wakes up!)

Don't even get me started on voice assistants. Like on the phone as well,.. "I'm sorry, I didn't understand that. Please say..."
 
Thank you. :)

Good, glad that you've only had one pop-up warning from Windows Defender Security Centre since reinstalling.

I think I may have found an answer to you not seeing the progress icon in the task bar. It's an old one from 2013. However this is a post from dj.turkmaster that mentions that
dj.turkmaster said:
Now it displays a popup on the lower left corner of the screen, whenever it scans a process.
Click to expand...
among other things.
https://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?68635-Spybot-Live-Protection-Annoying
There is an answer from the Spybot creator that says:
PepiMK said:
The notification window will only appear if the scan takes longer than a certain time, meaning if you've got the AV option checked, but not the AS one, it won't usually appear.
Click to expand...
https://forums.spybot.info/showthre...ction-Annoying&p=441513&viewfull=1#post441513
You can disregard the mentions of scan using AS and scan using AV, as those no longer appear in the Live Protection window. But I would presume that might be why BigBear and you did not see the pop-up/notification window scanning the processes, if that thread still holds true, it only appears if it takes a certain length of time. My apologies, I was unaware of that thread, or perhaps I read it and forgot about it. You could doublecheck with support about the popup/notifications from Live Protection appearing when scanning processes, if you like, just to be certain.
I did try to find a screenshot of the progress icon that would appear so that you could see it, but I couldn't find one. It was a little tiny box that would appear, and you would see a tiny scan going across when Live Protection was scanning a process.

That icon that appeared might be the Spybot tray icon. If you rightclick it, you can perform various actions such as selecting Update, or making sure there is a checkmark next to Live Protection, etc.

Yes, as long as you did a scan since redownloading Spybot, it should show it. I'm not sure why it's not.

Huh, guess if you or I got one of the Smart Speakers, it would be interesting, haha. :D:
 
Yes, I think it's the tray icon.
Think the re-install did the trick. Still not had any further pop-up warnings.
These answers are enough to satisfy me! Thankyou for going to the trouble to look for that.
The second scan was ok as well.
Your help is much appreciated. Thank you :) We seem to be up and running.
Now all I have to do is get used to this surface keyboard...!

-edit - I don't know what a Smart Speaker is. I'm missing something here, where have I been?
 
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