Windows Defender: This operation returned because the timeout period expired. (Error Code: 0x800705b4)
I recently received a new Dell laptop that has Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit as the operating system. A friend and I were discussing virus protection software as well as spyware protection software and how Windows 7 handles each. I am a big fan of Windows Defender so I was looking at the configuration on my Windows 7 computer and realized that the Windows Defender service was not starting. I hadn’t even realized this because I typically turn off the Virus, Spyware, and Firewall messaging that Windows complains about if you don’t have each installed the way the OS wants. So needless to say I was surprised that Windows Defender was stopped. It took me awhile to finally figure out how to resolve and I came across a bunch of issues that others may have so below I describe the error, steps I took to resolve, and final resolution.