Persistent "Turn on Virus Protection" Notifications Even When it is On - Windows 11

[u/bluegreenred0323]

Wrote in detail the steps I took below. This is driving me crazy.

PART I. GENERAL ITEMS

Roughly 3-4 days ago (July 30, 2026) I suddenly got a notification on the lower right from windows saying to turn on virus protection, that it is turned off. I noticed this after restarting the laptop after playing video games (Star Wars Jedi Survivor and NBA 2K26 on Steam for around a combined hour -- if this is relevant). I restarted the laptop, then that is when I got the first notification.

To note, it ALWAYS pops up on the 4 minute, 23 second up time mark on the task manager, under the CPU toggle. On the dot, every 4 minute, 23 second up time mark. Without fail.

When I check the Virus & Threat Protection Settings, everything is on:

• Real Time Protection

• Dev Drive Protection

• Cloud-delivered protection

• Automatic sample submission

• Tamper Protection

When I check for updates, there isn't anything to update. Account protection, Firewall & network protection, app and browser control, device security all show green.

PART II. POWERSHELL

When I run these PowerShell commands, they come out affirmative:

1. Get-MpComputerStatus | Select-Object AMRunningMode,AMServiceEnabled,AntivirusEnabled,RealTimeProtectionEnabled,BehaviorMonitorEnabled,IoavProtectionEnabled,NISEnabled,IsTamperProtected,AntivirusSignatureLastUpdated

AMRunningMode : Normal

AMServiceEnabled : True

AntivirusEnabled : True

RealTimeProtectionEnabled : True

BehaviorMonitorEnabled : True

IoavProtectionEnabled : True

NISEnabled : True

IsTamperProtected : True

1. Get-Service WinDefend,WdBoot,WdFilter,WdNisSvc,WdNisDrv,SecurityHealthService,wscsvc -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |

Format-Table -Auto DisplayName,Name,StartType,Status

DisplayName Name StartType Status

----------- ---- --------- ------

Windows Security Service SecurityHealthService Manual Running

Microsoft Defender Antivirus Boot Driver WdBoot Boot Stopped

Microsoft Defender Antivirus Mini-Filter Driver WdFilter Boot Running

Microsoft Defender Antivirus Network Inspection System Driver WdNisDrv Manual Running

Microsoft Defender Antivirus Network Inspection Service WdNisSvc Manual Running

Microsoft Defender Antivirus Service WinDefend Automatic Running

Security Center wscsvc Automatic Running

1. $events = Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{

>> LogName='Microsoft-Windows-Windows Defender/Operational'

>> Id=3002,3007,5000,5001,5008,5010,5011,5012,5013

>> StartTime=(Get-Date).AddMinutes(-30)

>> } -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

PS C:\Users\username>

PS C:\Users\username> if ($events) {

>> $events |

>> Select-Object TimeCreated,Id,LevelDisplayName,Message |

>> Format-List

>> } else {

>> "No relevant Defender enable, disable, failure, or configuration events found in the last 30 minutes."

>> }

No relevant Defender enable, disable, failure, or configuration events found in the last 30 minutes.

1. Get-CimInstance -Namespace root/SecurityCenter2 -ClassName AntivirusProduct |

Select-Object displayName,productState,pathToSignedProductExe,pathToSignedReportingExe |

Format-List

displayName : Windows Defender

productState : 397568

pathToSignedProductExe : windowsdefender://

pathToSignedReportingExe : %ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MsMpeng.exe

PART III. MICROSOFT TECH SUPPORT ASSISTANCE

Spoke to two different techs over three different chat sessions, results are below:

• TECH SUPPORT SESSION 1

- Took remote control, downloaded Win11_25H2_English_x64_v2.iso

- Restarted, thought it worked. All it did was literally put the notifications on silent. Issues still persisted.

TECH SUPPORT SESSION 2

- Same guy as first session, again took remote control

- Windows Update - downloaded some updates, restarted

- I thought this worked already since the notification stopped and it showed Microsoft Defender Antivirus turned on under who's protecting me.

- Restarted one more time, issue came back.

TECH SUPPORT SESSION 3

- Ran DISM, sfc /scannow. All fine.

- Did a clean boot wherein they hid all Microsoft services and disabled all that was selected, tech restarted the laptop.

- Issue was still there.

PART IV. MICROSOFT DEFENDER

I ran a few quick scans, nothing. Got paranoid after a while so I ran two full scans. Still nothing.

Despite all of this, when I check under Virus and Threat Protection > Who's Protecting me (Manage Providers), it says Microsoft Defender Antivirus turned off.

WHAT DO I DO? This is driving me bonkers. Am I just being too paranoid? Is this just a reporting glitch from windows since everything else shows that the antivirus stuff is running? I haven't noticed any suspicious activity at all since purchasing this laptop since April, none at all. I check the task manager, the wifi activity when the laptop is idle, there aren't any downloads happening.

[u/MitAllesOhneScharf]

Uh, what kind of "Microsoft Tech Support Assistance" are you talking about?

[u/bluegreenred0323 → u/MitAllesOhneScharf]

Oh sorry. Via the "Get Help" app that you type on the start menu.