Cannot find Windows Defender in "Programs" in Start Panel. When I go to web site to download it says program is already on the PC and must be removed. Wonder how it knows that?It's in Control Panel Add/Remove but when I try to remove it Windows says it can't find the program to remove. I do think the executable is not on the disk, but am not sure of the program name to check this.Catch-22 in its purest form. Sounds like a registry problem, but don't want to randomly delete items in it I think might be the problem. I will do regedit only if I know what I'm doing is the right thing.What is the proper recourse here? Rollback to an earlier restore point is not an option. Appreciate any help here. I need to use Defender to check startup programs.Win XP, SP 3.1 person needs an answerI do too

Hi, · Could you provide the complete error message that you receive when you try to uninstall Windows defender from Control Panel? Instead of performing system restore to uninstall Windows Defender from your computer, I would suggest you to use the command-line in order to uninstall it. Method 1: Command-line arguments to uninstall Windows defender in Windows XPa. Click Start, Type Run, and type the following:msiexec /uninstall windowsdefender.msi /quiet /log uninstall.log b. Once the command is succesfully executed, windows defender will get uninstalled and it may take a while to completely remove the program. Unable to Uninstall Windows Defender in XPhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/555957Once the program is completely uninstalled, you can download it from the link given below. Download: Windows® Defenderhttp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=435bfce7-da2b-4a6a-afa4-f7f14e605a0d Method 2: Perform a system restorePerforming system restore is worth only if you’ve installed Windows defender very recently.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084 Hope this information is helpful and let me know if you need any further assistance.Mouneshwar R – Microsoft Support-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think