Problems facing with Windows defender, Admin rights & windows update windows 8.1

Hello Anannya,

Thank you for visiting Microsoft Community and providing us with the detailed description about the issue.

As per the description, I understand that you are experiencing multiple issues on the system.

I certainly understand your concern and will try my best to help you.

Regarding Windows Defender, I would suggest you to try the following steps and check if it helps.

Step 1:

To diagnose whether this issue occurs in “Safe Mode”, let’s reboot the computer in safe mode and check if the issue appears there as well.

Safe mode is a diagnostic mode for Windows that starts your computer in a limited state. Only the basic files and drivers necessary to run Windows are started. This helps us in identifying whether the issue is due to some third party programs conflict. The word Safe mode appear in the concern of your monitor to identify which windows mode you are using.

Follow the steps given below and check if that helps.

1. Type settings in search and click on Settings.

2. Click Update and recovery, and then tap or click Recovery.

3. Under Advanced startup, tap or click Restart now.

4. Once your PC restarts, on the Choose an option screen, tap or click Troubleshoot.

5. If you don't see the Startup Settings option, tap or click advanced options.

6. Tap or click Startup Settings.

7. Tap or click Restart.

8. On the Startup Settings screen, choose the Safe Mode.

9. Sign in to your PC with a user account that has administrator rights.

Step 2:

If the issue does not appear in safe mode, place the computer in clean boot state and check if the issue reappears.

Placing your system in “Clean Boot” state helps in identifying if any third party applications or startup items are causing the issue. You need to follow the steps from the article mentioned below to perform a Clean Boot.

How to perform a clean boot in Windows

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135?wa=wsignin1.0

If the issue does not occur in “Clean Boot”, then you may determine which application/service on the computer is causing this issue. This can be done by following the instructions for “Windows 8.1 and Windows 8” given in the section “How to determine what is causing the problem by performing a Clean Boot” from the same given link.

Note: Refer "How to reset the computer to start normally after clean boot troubleshooting" to reset the computer to start as normal after troubleshooting.

Regarding Windows Updates, I would suggest you to try the following methods and check if the issue persists.

Method 1:

Run inbuilt Windows update troubleshooter and check if it works. Please follow the steps given below.

1. Press Windows + W keys on your keyboard to get the search option.

2. Type Troubleshooting and click Troubleshooting.

3. Now click on view all option.

4. Click on Windows update and follow the prompts to run the troubleshooter.

Note: The above troubleshooter will check whether the Network Adapter and Windows Update services are running correctly.

If the issue persists, follow method 2

Method 2:

I would suggest you to manually reset the Windows Update Components. Please follow the steps in the article given below and check if it works.

How do I reset Windows Update components?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

Note: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

Now, you may try running the Windows Updates and check if the above steps resolve the issue.

I hope this information is helpful.

Please do let us know if you need any further assistance, we will be glad to assist you.

Thank you.

Jayant