| You may have noticed a new error message upon | | | | protection product for Windows 2000, you will |
| Windows start-up since December 31, 2006. | | | | need to purchase a third party product in |
| The error dialog looks like this: | | | | order to be protected in the future. |
| | | | |
| Windows Defender | | | | I must say that I am more than annoyed by |
| | | | this decision at Microsoft to discontinue the |
| Application failed to initialize: 0x800106ba. | | | | Windows Defender product for Windows 2000. I |
| A problem caused Windows Defender | | | | am a big fan of Windows 2000 as it has been |
| | | | one of the most stable operating system made |
| Service to stop. To start the service, | | | | by Microsoft to date. I am aware that |
| restart your computer or search Help and | | | | Microsoft has discontinued official support |
| Support on how to start a service manually. | | | | for Win2k as of June 30, 2005. Actually, it |
| | | | has entered the "Extended Support Phase" |
| In addition, you will see the following in | | | | for the Win2k product. This means they will |
| your System Event Log: | | | | have "extended" support until June 2010... |
| | | | without Spyware protection! This is like the |
| Event Type: Error | | | | proverbial knife in the back for existing |
| | | | Win2k users. Actually, more like the |
| Event Source: Service Control Manager | | | | proverbial gun to the head to get you to |
| | | | upgrade to Windows Vista. |
| Event Category: None | | | | |
| | | | Now, there is no doubt that Windows XP and |
| Event ID: 7023 | | | | Vista are a much better protected operating |
| | | | systems right out of the box. In the |
| Description: | | | | networks that I support, XP Pro SP2 or |
| | | | Windows 2003 Server is the standard for any |
| The Windows Defender Service service | | | | new deployments. I just resent the gun to the |
| terminated with the following error: | | | | head thing! |
| | | | |
| The system license has expired. Your logon | | | | For Win2k users, you will obviously make your |
| request is denied. | | | | own decision about this dilemma in which I |
| | | | see you have three choices: |
| The issue is that Windows Defender Beta | | | | |
| support ended on December 31, 2006. Now, I | | | | 1) Uninstall Windows Defender and just take |
| would have expected this software license | | | | your chances on operating without Spyware |
| expire error to let you know a bit more | | | | protection. |
| gracefully. | | | | |
| | | | 2) Uninstall Windows Defender and purchase a |
| The good news is that if your are running | | | | third party Spyware protection product. |
| Windows XP, there is a easy fix. Simply go | | | | |
| to and look for the "Download Windows | | | | 3) Decide to put your money towards the |
| Defender" link near the bottom of the home | | | | upgrade to XP or Vista, which will include |
| page. Follow the download and install | | | | the free |
| instructions, and you will be up to date, | | | | |
| protected and will have fixed the start-up | | | | Spyware protection. |
| error in just minutes. | | | | |
| | | | I would not recommend choice 1. The Internet |
| Now for the bad news... | | | | is just too dangerous of a place to venture |
| | | | without protection. You may choose choice 2 |
| If you are running Windows 2000, Microsoft | | | | because you love Win2k and just do not want |
| has decided to no longer support the Windows | | | | to hassle with the potential upgrade |
| Defender product for the Windows 2000 | | | | headaches. Or, you may choose 3 because you |
| platform. You can fix the start-up error by | | | | are up to the upgrade task and you feel it |
| uninstalling Windows Defender from the Add | | | | make more sense to invest in the future. |
| Remove Programs in your Control Panel. | | | | |
| Unfortunately, this will leave you | | | | If you decide on the upgrade to Vista path, |
| unprotected from Spyware and Malware. Since | | | | please look for my "Upgrading to Vista" |
| Microsoft is no longer providing a Spyware | | | | article coming soon. |