-Midnight, it kind of feels like being left out in the cold, but if you're re-enabled Windows Defender you're not exactly swinging in the breeze.
Avast tends to call attention to itself, to make you aware it's on the job, to make you feel safe, so when it's not there it's natural to feel vulnerable. But don't worry; if it really bothers you don't surf to sites likely to deliver malware.
Or even better, adopt some new security practices that will help you. Here are a couple as a suggestions:
1. Research, then download and install the MVPS hosts file from this site:
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm2. Reconfigure Internet Explorer not to run ActiveX from sites in the Internet Zone, and review all the IE Add-Ons you already have installed, eliminating those you don't know you need.
These two things alone arguably provide you more protection than just running Avast with a default system configuration, and as a side benefit will decrease the number of ads you see and increase your privacy protection while surfing online.
And, when you do get a new Avast on the job again, these things do not need to be undone. They will continue to augment the protection.
-Noel