My laptop crashed after I tried to disable my antivirus to play a game... anyone know how to fix it?

Tech Support Forum
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So here’s what happened: I wanted to play a game, and it asked me to disable my antivirus so a certain file wouldn’t be deleted automatically when loading. I found a method online (big mistake) that involved disabling the antivirus through the registry.

I opened the Run command (Windows + R), typed regedit, and followed the steps to modify Windows Defender settings. After restarting my laptop, it seemed fine at first, but then it crashed, showing a ‘Something went wrong’ message and automatically rebooted. Now, I’ve tried starting it multiple times, but it keeps crashing. What do I do now?

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Try booting into recovery mode, open regedit from the command prompt, and undo the changes. Or, you could restore your system to a point before this happened. Just be careful next time and avoid doing things you don’t fully understand.

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@Briar
I’m a senior student still learning about computers, so I didn’t fully get what I was doing. I couldn’t find the file I edited, and CMD didn’t help. Luckily, I used system restore to get everything back to normal, and it worked! But I was seriously stressed. I’m the leader of a group project, and I thought I lost all our work… :sweat_smile:

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@Cory
Next time, don’t disable Windows Defender through the registry. If you’re having issues with specific files, just whitelist them instead.

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So you disabled your antivirus and then a virus infected your PC? Sounds like a bad idea. Try booting in safe mode to fix things.

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Flippa said:
So you disabled your antivirus and then a virus infected your PC? Sounds like a bad idea. Try booting in safe mode to fix things.

I wasn’t trying to extract the infected file, but I couldn’t spot it. I tried to find it, but it wouldn’t show up.

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@Cory
You should run an online virus scan and check all your files.

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Flippa said:
@Cory
You should run an online virus scan and check all your files.

A virus scan sounds good. How do I do that?

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This kind of issue happens, but it’s usually not a huge problem. Reinstall your Windows and restore your files from a backup. And if you don’t have a backup, well, now you know why it’s important to have one.

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@Smart
I used system restore, and it worked perfectly! Glad to be back on track.

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Cory said:
@Smart
I used system restore, and it worked perfectly! Glad to be back on track.

Awesome! Glad you’re back up and running!

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Why would you trust a game that asks you to disable your antivirus? Where did you get the game from? Was it from someone on Discord? How big is the file?

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After everything crashed, I saw the Recovery screen, where I could choose to troubleshoot or reset my PC. But I was hesitant to pick the option to remove apps and settings because I was worried it might delete my AutoCAD .dwg files, which would be a disaster for my work.

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Glad to hear you got it fixed, OP. You were lucky to have a System Restore point. Here’s some advice to help avoid this issue in the future:

  1. Always back up your registry before making changes so you can restore it if needed. Save the file externally just in case the PC won’t boot.
  2. Never disable your antivirus from the registry; you can disable it through Settings, especially Windows Defender.
  3. Be cautious with installs that ask you to disable your antivirus. It could be a scam or malware trying to get installed.

A) If you’re told to disable your antivirus, run the installer through VirusTotal to see if it’s flagged by any antivirus software.
B) Only download installers from the official website, not third-party sources.
C) Try installing without disabling your antivirus. If it blocks a file, consider whitelisting just that file if you’ve done your research.
4. Run a Windows Defender scan and a second tool like Malwarebytes after installing anything.