Why Am I Told "Your computer might be at risk" When I Start My Computer?

Why Am I Told “Your computer might be at risk” When I Start My Computer?

By Rich on April 22, 2010 (12 Comments)

your computer risk Why Am I Told Your computer might be at risk When I Start My Computer?

If I’m keeping track correctly, I’ve been asked this same question seven times since I started running this website. In fact, I asked myself this question a few years ago: “why does my computer tell me it may be a risk every time I start my PC?” Now, I could drag this guide out and try and sound really smart; however, I want to keep this simple.

The reason your computer tells you it might be at risk when you first turn on your PC is because your anti-virus software has not loaded yet. As such, windows XP (the offender here) jumps the gun a little and assumes you have no anti-virus software on your computer. When your anti-virus software loads, this notice goes away and everything is back to normal again.

This is a classic case of trying to be proactive with security and your computer getting a little too far ahead of itself.

If, however, your PC constantly pops this message up, you should either get a virus checker or, if you already have one, remove it and install Microsoft Security Essentials.

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

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Comments

Angie M
Actually, I started receiving the message “Computer might be at risk” after I installed Microsoft Security Essentials. I found out that the problem was that I had too many unnecessary programs running during startup. It was causing Microsoft Security Essentials not to startup immediately when I turned on my laptop.
I went to “start” and clicked on “run” to type in msconfig. I then clicked on the “startup” tab and unchecked some programs that I knew didn’t have to run right away like “Dell Support Center”, Quick Set, Microsoft office, etc. I unchecked Messenger, but it still had a mind of it’s own. LOL! Once I clicked “apply” and restarted my laptop, the problem cleared up and Microsoft Security Essentials starts right away. My advice would to be careful when choosing which programs to uncheck during startup in msconfig. Only choose programs like I suggested.
Rich
Great tip! Thanks Angie.
Angie M
Actually, I started receiving the message “Computer might be at risk” after I installed Microsoft Security Essentials. I found out that the problem was that I had too many unnecessary programs running during startup. It was causing Microsoft Security Essentials not to startup immediately when I turned on my laptop.
I went to “start” and clicked on “run” to type in msconfig. I then clicked on the “startup” tab and unchecked some programs that I knew didn’t have to run right away like “Dell Support Center”, Quick Set, Microsoft office, etc. I unchecked Messenger, but it still had a mind of it’s own. LOL! Once I clicked “apply” and restarted my laptop, the problem cleared up and Microsoft Security Essentials starts right away. My advice would to be careful when choosing which programs to uncheck during startup in msconfig. Only choose programs like I suggested.
Angie M
Actually, I started receiving the message “Computer might be at risk” after I installed Microsoft Security Essentials. I found out that the problem was that I had too many unnecessary programs running during startup. It was causing Microsoft Security Essentials not to startup immediately when I turned on my laptop.
I went to “start” and clicked on “run” to type in msconfig. I then clicked on the “startup” tab and unchecked some programs that I knew didn’t have to run right away like “Dell Support Center”, Quick Set, Microsoft office, etc. I unchecked Messenger, but it still had a mind of it’s own. LOL! Once I clicked “apply” and restarted my laptop, the problem cleared up and Microsoft Security Essentials starts right away. My advice would to be careful when choosing which programs to uncheck during startup in msconfig. Only choose programs like I suggested.
Rich
Great tip! Thanks Angie.
Rich
Great tip! Thanks Angie.
Angie M
You’re welcome, Rich! Thanks for all of your great tips, too! It’s helped me out on several occasions and I appreciate that. :)
Angie M
You’re welcome, Rich! Thanks for all of your great tips, too! It’s helped me out on several occasions and I appreciate that. :)
Angie M
You’re welcome, Rich! Thanks for all of your great tips, too! It’s helped me out on several occasions and I appreciate that. :)
Vricciuti
Genius – thanks a whole bunch. Each time it scared the crap out of me cause it would flash malware trojan etc and if i’d click to open antivirus it would not work. Couldn’t figure out why my other security wasn’t enough. till i read your post :)))))
Deb
I just had this pop up today then i read your post thanks this helped
mamabrumble59
well not the answer to my problem Rich, I believe I have the dreaded Ads to Browse malware somehow on my computer and it keeps turning microsoft security essentials off. In fact I am noticing that my other antivirus avast stays on but microsoft shuts off. Doesn’t really matter since the damn virus is attacking my computer anyway. Just so others realize
it is not always a false positive.

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