Defender - Software Explorer

In the lower right corner of the Tools window is a link the is titled Software Explorer. When you click on the link you a new window comes up. The right window lists the programs that start up when you start your computer. After you left click on a program you see the details of that program in the right window.

I opened Software Explorer to discover that there were two programs running that I did not recognize. They were both had the name Macrovision FLEXnet. So I did a Google search to find out what they were.

It turns out that these two programs have to deal with Digital Rights Management. In simple terms copyright protection of some material I have on this computer.

If you look in the lower right corner of the screen shot, you will see three buttons grayed out. That means this program from Defender can not be disabled or removed. When you click on certain programs in the left window, these button will only become ungrayed with ones you are allowed to disable or remove.