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Microsoft says Defender “Antivirus off” alerts are a bug

8/31/2026

Summary

Story summary

Microsoft confirms the false “Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned off” alerts are a bug.
The alerts appear after the latest Defender updates and persist even when notification settings are disabled.
All Windows and Windows Server versions with Defender active, including Windows 10 and Windows 11 23H2-25H2, are affected.
Microsoft says Defender continues functioning correctly and its settings show it as active.
Microsoft plans to release a resolution in a future Defender update.

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Story summary

Microsoft confirms the false “Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned off” alerts are a bug.
The alerts appear after the latest Defender updates and persist even when notification settings are disabled.
All Windows and Windows Server versions with Defender active, including Windows 10 and Windows 11 23H2-25H2, are affected.
Microsoft says Defender continues functioning correctly and its settings show it as active.
Microsoft plans to release a resolution in a future Defender update.