Should note that I am running the latest Knime version. File Reader works fine but Excel Reader and Writer both have the same error. The following log file:
2020-12-21 19:52:04,329 : ERROR : main : : WindowsDefenderExceptionHandler : : : PowerShell command powershell -inputformat none -outputformat text -NonInteractive -Command Get-MpComputerStatus -ErrorAction Stop | Select-Object -ExpandProperty AMServiceEnabled did not terminate successfully.
2020-12-21 19:52:04,330 : ERROR : main : : WindowsDefenderExceptionHandler : : : Stderr is:
2020-12-21 19:52:04,331 : ERROR : main : : WindowsDefenderExceptionHandler : : : Get-MpComputerStatus : A general error occurred that is not covered by a more specific error code.
2020-12-21 19:52:04,331 : ERROR : main : : WindowsDefenderExceptionHandler : : : At line:1 char:1
2020-12-21 19:52:04,331 : ERROR : main : : WindowsDefenderExceptionHandler : : : + Get-MpComputerStatus -ErrorAction Stop | Select-Object -ExpandPropert …
2020-12-21 19:52:04,331 : ERROR : main : : WindowsDefenderExceptionHandler : : : + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2020-12-21 19:52:04,331 : ERROR : main : : WindowsDefenderExceptionHandler : : : + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (MSFT_MpComputerStatus:ROOT\Microsoft…pComputerStatus) [Get-MpComputerS
2020-12-21 19:52:04,331 : ERROR : main : : WindowsDefenderExceptionHandler : : : tatus], CimException
2020-12-21 19:52:04,331 : ERROR : main : : WindowsDefenderExceptionHandler : : : + FullyQualifiedErrorId : HRESULT 0x800106ba,Get-MpComputerStatus
2020-12-21 19:52:04,331 : ERROR : main : : WindowsDefenderExceptionHandler : : :
Not sure if there is another way to read or load Excel files