Windows Vista Windows defender + Firewall problem on Vista

Hi all, I have a Windows Vista Home Premium OS on an Acer Aspire 5920G Notebook and I have a problem with Windows Defender and Windows Firewall. Last month I got a virus (I still don't know where and how I took it...), called Win32.Bagle. This virus caused me some crashes/BSOD and it didn't let any anti-virus start. Fortunately I had UniBlue SpyEraser constantly on and this let me block some actions of the virus. Last week I disassembled my notebook, extracted the HDD (a Toshiba 200Gb 5400 rpm S-ATA) and I plugged it in a Desktop PC (of my friend) with Kaspersky on. I made a system scan and I found 331 infected objects, so I eliminated everything and now the anti-virus starts and everything seems to be working well (I have Avast 4.7 Home Edition now). I only have a problem with Windows Defender and Windows Firewall: the former gives me this message of error "0x800106ba" and can't load and the latter gives me this error "0x6D9" when I try to refresh its settings. Logically this is due to the fact that the virus infected both the systems of Windows, so now I think I have to remove and install again the two softwares, but I don't know how...since in the list of programs I don't find Windows' tools & programs...or maybe I can repair them but still I don't know how. If somebody can help me I would be very grateful; and, since I probably took the virus while I was trying a Norton 360 trial version, I ask if somebody can recommend me a good anti-virus with firewall (free or not, but within 100 euros I hope...) in order to avoid situations like this one. [I heard about Kaspersky and Nod32 but I don't know which is the best and if there are some still better, with a firewall]

Thank you all in advance,
Alex (from Italy)

 

Thanks for your quick reply

Anyway I opened the website you posted and I found this for what concerns Windows Defender

To remove Windows Defender from Windows 2000 or Windows XP:

1.
On the Start menu, point to All Programs, and then click Windows Defender.
2.
Exit Windows Defender. (Click the arrow next to the help icon and point to Exit Windows Defender).
3.
On the Start menu, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add or Remove Programs.
4.
Click Windows Defender.
5.
Click Remove, and then in the dialog box that follows, click Yes.

But I have Windows Vista Home Premium (and that's probably the main problem..) and not XP or 2000. So in the list of the programs on my pc Windows Defender is not present (as the other Windows programs and tools) and I cannot uninstall it. Is there a particular way to remove it in Windows Vista (and then re-install it) ?

However I solved the problem of Windows Firewall, just by disabling and turning on it (and refreshing the settings).

So if somebody knows how to remove Defender on Vista, he would solve me a real problem.

Alex (Italy)

 

Thanks a lot, it works! Now I've disabled from "services" and then I re-activated it and it works. So firewall & defender problems are now solved. And I'll look for "Comodo" firewall, since I'm already using Avast now.

I'm so happy that I found a real helpful person like you

Alex