# Solved: Microsoft Security Essentials Validation Error!



## Marine41991 (Jul 20, 2010)

Hello all, 
Heres my problem that I have been having,
I wanted to use Microsoft Security Essentials as it was highly recommended to me.
But when I download it and it comes to the 'validation' page to see if my computer is windows genuine it just freezes and then says 'Microsoft security essentials has stopped working' .
My computer is genuine though, and I activated it on their website too!

So if anyone could help me with this problem that would be amazing!


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## wtxcowboy (May 25, 2004)

where are you downloading the setup file from? are you saving it to your desktop or are you clicking "run" when it downloads? try the new beta from connect.microsoft.com.https://connect.microsoft.com/securityessentials


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## jmatt (Apr 7, 2000)

Marine41991 said:


> Hello all,
> 'Microsoft security essentials has stopped working' .
> 
> G'day Marine41991, very common problem with 64bit W7, I looked at 7 or 8 sites, plenty of fixes for XP, W7 users switched to Avast.
> ...


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## Marine41991 (Jul 20, 2010)

Hey guys!

Well I did try the beta, and once it started to 'install' the same thing happened 'microsoft secutrity essentials has stopped working'.

At first I tried to just 'run' it after it downloaded on the web browser. After that didn't work, I dragged it to the desktop and tried to install it from their. The same thing happened as before.

I have also tried to follow the steps that some people used that helped them on other forums. 
This site here:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com...t/thread/3f877be5-3a04-47b7-a3ee-835910633110

Has great steps to fix the problem. But the thing is, I can't access my 'Application Data' file, nor can I find a file called Windows Genuine Advantage.

Thanks for your posts!


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Do you have a security suite or anti-spyware application that could be objecting to MSE? Or one that was uninstalled but did not go away completely and cleanly?


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## Marine41991 (Jul 20, 2010)

Well I have AVG 9.0 as of now.
I also have some tools to remove spyware like Avira AntiVir, but that doesn't run unless I'm doing a spyware scan.


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## jmatt (Apr 7, 2000)

Marine41991 said:


> Hey guys!
> 
> This site here:
> http://social.answers.microsoft.com...t/thread/3f877be5-3a04-47b7-a3ee-835910633110
> ...


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## helpful (Sep 18, 2009)

Try checking under C:\ProgramData\Windows Genuine Advantage\Data instead for Vista/Windows 7


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## Marine41991 (Jul 20, 2010)

I did find C:\ProgramData but I did not find Windows Genuine Advantage in it.

Thanks for the post!

Oh and I am running on Windows 7 64Bit


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

I don't find "Windows Genuine Advantage" anywhere on my Windows 7 systems. And I have genuine systems and MSE installed and running.

Suggest you remove AVG, or at least try the install of MSE with AVG disabled.


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## Marine41991 (Jul 20, 2010)

Alright, thanks pal!
I will install it without AVG on.
And how is MSE working for you?


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Uninstall Avg and Avira, as those are antivirus programs and you should never install more than one antivirus program at a time. Antispyware programs you can but neither of those are.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

> And how is MSE working for you?


Haven't had a single problem on XP, Vista or Windows 7. That's why I'm so puzzled that you are having this issue. I "fired" AVG free anti-virus and Norton Anti-virus (only on one system) shortly after MSE came out. I did uninstall those applications before installing MSE.


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

I also have it working on a Vista 64 bit and a Windows 7 64 bit without any issues.


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## Marine41991 (Jul 20, 2010)

Alright guys and gals, I finally installed MSE without any problems!
What I had to do was uninstall AVG and Avira (even though Avira doesn't run on startup)
And after that I had to install Windows 7 again (not a format, because I kept all of my previous files from before) and then installed MSE without a hitch!

Thanks to everyone who tried to help me out and succeeded!


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Great why not mark this "solved" in your first post.


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## Marine41991 (Jul 20, 2010)

Sorry, I forgot to do so!


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