A Defender update has eaten my system, and I need to remove it, but Defender updates don't show up in my Updates list, and I'm running Vista so I can't uninstall the whole program. I've disabled Defender, which did something but didn't actually fix the problem. My whole system is borked, and I can only work in Safe Mode. Can anyone help me out?

Hi, Based on the situation, you can try the options on startup repair to check if this will enable you to log in to system. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

I'm sorry--I see I wasn't precise: I can actually boot up in normal mode, but once it begins loading the startup programs the system hangs. It'll hang up for several minutes, run for a second or two, then rehang for several more minutes, and so on, ad infinitum, so although I can technically start the computer in normal mode, it doesn't actually run. I have tried startup repair, in the hope that it might fix something, but it didn't find anything. I've tried running system restores as well, but the restore won't complete regardless of what restore point I try. Thank you very much for the reply, though!

Hi, Thank you for posting back. From your description, the system hangs when loading startup programs. Given this situation, let us prepare clean boot to troubleshoot the issue. To place the computer in a clean boot state, follow the steps below: 1. Click Start, type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue. 2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup. 3. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box. 4. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All. 5. Click OK. 6. When you are prompted, click Restart. 7. After the computer starts, start the installation and check whether the problem is resolved. Please check if the issue persists, also let us know as to what error message or error code you get during windows updates. Please disable the antivirus software as well. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.