03.06.08
The program can’t download definitions updates Error found: Code 0×80240022
My PC is running Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit with NOD32 antivirus/anti-spyware and Windows Defender.
Windows Defender is not the best anti-spyware however it does have it’s place. NOD32 from ESET does a decent job on spyware and it is one of the best for antivirus so I was happy.
Part of my normal security procedures verifies everything is updating itself properly. Windows Defender had not updated in quite some time so I opened it and manually ran an update. I promptly got the following error:
After a little googling, I found a procedure that fixes the problem. Apparently the definitions have something wrong with them (corruption maybe?) that causes the update to fail.
Here is the procedure that worked for me:
- Type Windows-R (Hold the Windows or start key and type an R) to bring up the run dialog box.
- Type in cmd.exe and the press ctrl-alt-enter to run it as Administrator. It may ask for escalation privileges so type in your password and press enter if it does.
- Use the cd command to change to the Windows Defender directory:cd “\Program Files\Windows Defender”
- Run the following commands:mpcmdrun -RemoveDefinitions -All
mpcmdrun -SignatureUpdate
That is it. It worked for me. Here is a screen shot of an example run of those commands once you have a command window open:

