why is my antivirus not working

What is the function of antivirus? Antivirus software must protect your computer at all costs. The moment you have antivirus software installed on your computer, you should have sound knowledge on how to be protected against malware and other attacks. Let us spoil it for you. When it comes to software, there is no such thing as perfect. Every software has a glitch here or there; the antivirus software is no exception. On a day, you might find the antivirus working fine. But on some other day, your antivirus will stop working. You won't know how to resolve this or what causes the antivirus not to work. One excuse could be, you might not have renewed your software. What if you have renewed it and still it doesn't work? Chuck your worries in the trash. We have solutions that you can try if antivirus is not working on your computer. The steps are for Windows 10 computers.

Method 1: Remove The Second Antivirus Software

Having two antivirus software is not safe for the computer and for the software itself. Imagine a scenario where you have Windows security enabled, but you want to have only Avast or Kaspersky antivirus. In such cases, the best is to disable Windows security.

Step 1:Click the search bar on the desktop screen.

Step 2:Type Windows Security and select it from the search result.

Step 3:The Virus & threat protection window will open.

Step 4:Scroll down the window and click Manage settings.

Step 5:Under the real-time protection section, click the slider (you will see the "Real-time protection is off, leaving your device vulnerable" message).

Method 2: Run A Sfc Scan

System File Check scan is also called an SFC scan. Here are the steps to run an SFC scan.

Step 1:Type cmd and wait for the search result.
Step 2:Do a right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
Step 3:In cmd, type sfc /scannow and press Enter.
Step 4:The System File Check scan will happen.
Step 5:The SFC scan will take 15-20 minutes to complete. Do not interrupt the scan progress.

This method will clearly solve the antivirus not working issue. If the problem persists, continue with the method mentioned below.

Method 3: Do A Clean Boot

Step 1:Open the Run command.
Step 2:Type msconfig in the Run command Open field and click OK.
Step 3:The System Configuration window will open.
Step 4:Click the Services tab.
Step 5:Click the checkbox for Hide all Microsoft services and click Disable all.
Step 6:Click Startup and click Open Task Manager.
Step 7:Do a right-click on all the startup applications and select Disable all.
Step 8:Click the Apply button and click OK.
Step 9:Restart your Windows computer and your antivirus will not stop working.

You will know your antivirus is working when you get pop-up notifications about regular scans and results.