How to fully disable windows defender

When using Windows, you’ll notice that it comes with its own antivirus called Windows Defender (now called Windows Security and Microsoft Defender in later versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11). For some, Windows Defender is more of a hindrance than a help, and they’ll want to disable Windows Defender completely. As you’ll discover in this tutorial, disabling Windows Defender isn’t as easy as it should be. Regardless, making sure Defender goes down and stays down isn’t very tricky at all.

Why Not Use the Default Option?

It may seem a little confusing that turning off Windows Defender permanently is trickier than it should be. After all, there’s an option within Windows to disable Defender.

1. You can access it by going to “Start -> Settings -> Privacy & security.”

1. Select “Windows Security” or “Windows Defender,” depending on your version of Windows.
2. In Windows 10, you’ll see an option to turn Defender off under “Real-time protection.” However, if you read the description of the setting, you’ll spot the problem. Windows Defender will only stay inactive for a short period of time. When it detects that it’s been off for too long, it will automatically turn itself back on again. If you want Windows Defender to stay disabled, you’ll have to keep toggling this option off every time Windows resets it. What a hassle!

1. If you’re using Windows 11, the same settings exist, but you have to go through a few extra screens. Click on “Open Windows Security.”

1. Select “Virus & threat protection.”

1. Scroll until you see “Virus & threat protection settings.” Click the “Manage Settings” link.

1. Toggle the various options to “Off,” just like you would in Windows 10. It’s a pain trying to get to the settings, but once you do, they’ll look similar to Windows 10.

Also, just as in Windows 10, turning everything off is just temporary. This is great if you just need to turn Windows Defender off for a short while but doesn’t solve the ultimate goal of turning off Windows Defender permanently.

Note: if you’re already using another antivirus instead of Windows Defender, you may not see these settings at all – which is a fix in itself and will be detailed below.

Fortunately, there are ways to make it so that Windows Defender doesn’t reenable itself. Keep in mind that you’ll have to make sure you do not browse the Web without a functioning antivirus active! You need to have something installed beforehand to make up for Windows Defender being turned off.

You have a few options when it comes to disabling Windows Defender.

1. The first is the simplest: just install a third-party virus program on your PC to disable the Defender in part.
2. For a more permanent solution, you can go through the registry or Local Group Policy window. Typically, the Local Group Policy solution is a little easier to perform, but you can only use it on Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions of Windows 10 and 11.

If you don’t use any of the above editions, or aren’t sure which one you’re using, don’t worry! All versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11 can turn off Windows Defender using the registry method. Just follow the steps below, and you should have your problem fixed in no time.

Before you proceed with registry options, you have to disable Windows Defender Tamper Protection. This is a great feature that helps prevent another user or even a virus from disabling your built-in antivirus. Otherwise, any changes you make in the following sections will go away once you restart.

1. Go to “Start -> Settings -> Privacy & security -> Windows Security.”
2. Select “Virus & threat protection.” If you don’t see this option, select “Open Windows Security,” then select “Virus & threat protection.”

1. Select “Manage Settings.”

1. Toggle off “Tamper Protection.”

Using the Registry (Available for ALL Users)

1. Open the Run command by pressing Win + R. In the box that appears, type regedit and click “OK.”

Note: Make a backup of your registry before you make any changes. You can do this by opening the Registry Editor, then “File -> Export.” Place the copy in a safe place. If you want to clean up your registry from time to time, learn how to defragment it.

1. The system registry will open. On the left, navigate to the following folder:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows Defender

1. You may see a folder after Windows Defender called “Policy Manager.” Don’t click on it. Instead, select the Windows Defender folder as shown in the following image.

1. On the right side of the window, you may see a file called “DisableAntiSpyware.” If you do, that’s great! If not, we’re going to have to make our own. To do this, right-click in the empty space on the right side of the window and go to “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.”

1. Windows will create an untitled DWORD file. Right-click the file and click “Rename,” then call it “DisableAntiSpyware.” Make sure you enter the name perfectly!
2. Right-click the “DisableAntiSpyware” file and click “Modify.”

1. To enable the policy that disables Windows Defender, set the value data to “1” and click “OK.” This tells the computer that the policy that was just created should be enabled, and Windows will disable Defender for you. If you ever want to bring Windows Defender back, just return to this file and change the value to “0.” This disables the policy and allows Windows Defender to work again.

1. The next time you try to load Windows Defender, you’ll see the following error message saying it’s been turned off.

If anything related to Defender is still running, add the following DWORD values in the following folder locations using the same process as above:

• DisableRealtimeMonitoring – set the value to 1.
• DisableRoutinelyTakingAction – set the value to 1.
• DisableAntiVirus – set the value to 1.
• DisableSpecialRunningModes – set the value to 1.
• ServiceKeepAlive – set value to 0.

You may also need to create three new folders under Windows Defender. Right-click the “Windows Defender” folder and select “New -> Key.” Add three new Keys: “Signature Updates,” “Real-Time Protection,” and “Spynet.”

Next, add the following DWORD values to the corresponding folders:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows DefenderSignature Updates

• ForceUpdateFromMU – set value to 0.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows DefenderReal-Time Protection

• DisableRealtimeMonitoring – set value to 1.
• DisableOnAccessProtection – set value to 1.
• DisableBehaviorMonitoring – set value to 1.
• DisableScanOnRealtimeEnable (Set value to 1)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows DefenderSpynet

• DisableBlockAtFirstSeen – set value to 1.

Tip: if you’re having trouble opening Windows Security on your PC, here are some fixes.

Using Local Group Policy

1. Press Win + R to load the Run box, then type gpedit.msc into the box and press “OK.”

1. If you attempt to run it in a different edition, such as Home, you’ll get the following error. This means you cannot use this method to disable Windows Defender. In this case, you’ll want to use one of the other two remaining methods outlined in this article.

1. When the Local Group Policy window loads, select “Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates” on the right.
2. Go to “Windows Components -> Windows Defender (Antivirus).” Scroll down until you see a file called “Turn off Windows Defender.”

1. Double-click it and click “Enabled” on the left. This turns on the “Turn off Windows Defender” policy, which disables Windows Defender. If you change your mind in the future, you can come back and select “Disabled” instead.

Use a Third-Party Antivirus

You’re not under any obligation to use what Windows comes with. While it does work surprisingly well, you can use any third-party antivirus. This is also an easy way to permanently disable Windows Defender.

1. Download and install the antivirus of your choice. We have several recommendations along with advice on using a third-party antivirus with Windows 11.
2. Once installed, Windows Defender should go into passive mode, which means it’s no longer running. If your antivirus doesn’t have a firewall, the Windows Defender firewall will still run.
3. Check that your system is using the correct antivirus by going to “Start -> Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Windows Security.”
4. Select either “Virus & threat protection” or “Open Windows Security.” If you choose the latter, you’ll need to select “Virus & threat protection” on that page.

1. Select “Manage providers.” Depending on your version of Windows, this may be listed in the center of the window or to the far right.

1. Check that your third-party antivirus is turned on and that Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned off. If it’s the other way around, select your antivirus and turn it on, then turn off Defender.

1. If you have another firewall installed, you’ll also be able to change your firewall preferences under the “Firewall & network protection” section. Otherwise, the Microsoft Firewall will stay on.

Windows Defender issues might cause you to get a “This setting is managed by your administrator” error. Fortunately, we can help you solve it.

Disable Periodic Scanning

Even if you’ve installed another antivirus, Windows may still run periodic scans. These won’t run at the same time as your third-party antivirus, but if you want to fully disable Windows Defender, you’ll want to stop these extra scans. By default, Windows 11 turns periodic scans off when installing another antivirus, but Windows 10 doesn’t always do this.

1. Go to “Start -> Settings -> Privacy & security -> Windows Security.”
2. Open “Virus & threat protection.” If this isn’t an option, select “Open Windows Security” first.
3. Expand “Microsoft Defender Options.”

1. Turn off “Periodic scanning.”

Disable Windows Defender Tasks

If Windows Defender is still trying to run, you may need to manually disable a few tasks and services.

1. Click the Start menu and search for “task scheduler.” Select “Task Scheduler.”

1. In the left pane, open “Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Windows Defender.”

1. If you see any tasks listed here, right-click each one and choose “Disable.”
2. As a final step, you may also need to disable one or more Windows Defender services. This is especially true if you’re having trouble turning off the built-in firewall and want to use something else. Press Win + R, type services.msc and click “OK.”

1. Look for both “Microsoft Defender” and “Windows Defender.” We had the following services listed: Microsoft Defender Antivirus, Microsoft Defender Antivirus Network Inspection Service, and Windows Defender Firewall.
2. If the services are listed as “Manual” or “Disabled” under “Startup Type” and aren’t listed as “Running,” you don’t need to worry about it. If it’s running or listed as “Automatic,” right-click the service and select “Properties.”

1. Stop the service if it’s running and change the “Startup type” to “Manual” or “Disabled.”

1. Press “Apply” to confirm the changes. You may be prompted to restart your computer after disabling tasks and services.

Ever wondered if your antivirus is working properly? Learn how to test your program against real malware to get the answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Image credit: Unsplash. All screenshots by Crystal Crowder.

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Windows Defender — встроенное в операционную систему программное обеспечение, которое защищает пользователя от вирусов и шпионских программ. В принципе, он обеспечивает неплохой уровень защиты, но иногда мешает установить новое ПО, даже лицензионное и от известных разработчиков. Поэтому многие пользователи часто задаются вопросом, как отключить Microsoft Defender Windows. Сделать это можно сразу несколькими способами, при этом находиться за целевым компьютером вам вовсе не обязательно.

Содержание

• Отключаем Windows Defender через параметры защиты
• Как отключить Windows Defender через групповые политики
• Как отключить Защитника Windows через реестр
• Отключаем Windows Defender с помощью стороннего софта
• Итоги

Отключаем Windows Defender через параметры защиты

Самый простой способ отключения Защитника Windows зашит в саму операционную систему. В ней существует несколько гибких настроек, влияющих на работу Защитника. Чтобы их изменить, выполните следующие действия:

• Нажмите комбинацию клавиш Win + I и перейдите в раздел Обновление и безопасность.
• Затем в левой части окна выберите пункт Безопасность Windows. 
• После этого выберите Защита от вирусов и угроз.
• В появившемся окне под разделом Параметры защиты от вирусов и других угроз перейдите в Управление настройками.
• Здесь можно отключить облачную защиту, защиту от подделки и защиту в режиме реального времени. Первая из них обеспечивает доступ к новейшим данным о защите в облаке, вторая предотвращает подделку важных функций системы безопасности, а третья обнаруживает и блокирует установку вредоносного ПО. В большинстве случаев вам нужно отключить последнюю функцию, которая напрямую мешает установке нового софта, если посчитает его подозрительным.

There are times when we want to turn off Windows Defender on Windows 10 quickly. For example, if we are installing a software which requires that the antivirus should be disabled during installation (yes there are some software which requires this).

Windows Defender is an all in one security software from Microsoft consisting of antivirus and a firewall. Windows Defender comes pre-installed with Windows 10. It gets all its updates from Windows Update.

Although you can turn Windows Defender on or off from Windows Settings, there are other quick ways to turn it on or turn off Windows Defender Windows 10 or even Windows 8/8.1. You should choose the best method according to the version of Windows you are using.

A general recommendation in terms of security is that you should always have security enabled for your PC at all times. This could be using Windows Defender, Microsoft’s own security solution built into Windows 10, or using a third-party security tool.

Sometimes you will need to disable antivirus and firewall protection in Windows. For example, when you are playing a game but the antivirus keeps on scanning the files and slows down the system. Another example can be when the antivirus detects a program as a false positive although you know that the program is completely safe to use.

Some people believe that it is safe to turn off Windows Defender and use cracking software. This includes activating Windows using illegal tools like KMSPico or the Microsoft Toolkit. These cracking tools are not safe at all. They may inject malware into the system that may not be detectable by the antivirus after installation. The malware is used for cryptomining and other hacking purposes.

There are two ways to turn off Windows Defender, either temporarily or permanently. We will discuss both ways here.

How to Turn Off Windows Defender Using Windows Settings

If you want to turn Windows Defender on or off using Windows Settings, follow the steps below:

1. Open Windows Settings (Windows key + i)
2. Go to Update & Security –> Windows Security
3. From the right-hand pane, select Manage settings under Virus & threat protection settings.
4. Toggle the switch to Off under Real-time protection.

This will turn off real-time protection while a manual scan is available at your disposal.

How To Disable Windows Defender Using Command Prompt

To turn off Windows Defender using Command Prompt, follow these steps:

1. Open command prompt with administrative privileges

2. Run the following command to disable Windows Defender:

   sc stop WinDefend

3. To make sure that Windows Defender is stopped, run this command:

   sc query WinDefend

To enable Windows defender again, run the following command:

sc start WinDefend

Please note that this is a temporary method to stop Windows Defender. The service will return to its original state once the system is restarted.

To disable Windows Defender permanently using the command prompt, run the following command:

sc config WinDefend start= disabled
sc stop WinDefend

To enable it again on startup, run the following commands:

sc config WinDefend start= auto
sc start WinDefend

If you want to check the current state of the Windows Defender service, run the following command:

sc query WinDefend

Check the STATE variable. It should be in RUNNING state if it is enabled.

How To Permanently Disable Windows Defender Using PowerShell

One advantage of PowerShell is that you can deploy changes to Windows Defender on multiple computers across the network.

If you prefer PowerShell way, follow the steps below:

1. Run PowerShell with administrative privileges (Windows key + X + A)
2. To disable real-time monitoring for Windows Defender, run the following command:
   Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $true
3. To enable real-time monitoring, run the following command:
   Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $false

The above method will only turn off real-time monitoring of Windows Defender. If you want to completely remove Windows Defender from Windows 10, use the following PowerShell command:

Uninstall-WindowsFeature -Name Windows-Defender

How To Permanently Turn Off Windows Defender Using Group Policy

If you are a network admin and want to disable Windows Defender from your network, it is wise to use Group Policy. Just follow the steps below to turn off Windows Defender using the Group Policy editor:

1. Open Group Policy Editor (Run –> gpedit.msc)
2. Go to Computer Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Windows Components –> Windows Defender Antivirus
   
3. From the right-hand pane, open Turn off Windows Defender Antivirus and select Enabled
   

This setting can be accessed through Local Group Policy as well as Domain Group Policy. The local policy will turn off Windows Defender for all local users while the domain policy will disable it for all systems on which the policy is applied.

How To Permanently Disable Windows Defender Using Windows Registry

You can also disable Windows Defender permanently from Windows Registry just by creating or altering a few registry keys.. Follow the steps below:

1. Go to Run –> regedit. This will open the Windows Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to the following key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows Defender
3. In the right pane, right-click the empty area and create a new DWORD (32-bit) value.
4. Rename the new item to DisableAntiSpyware
5. Double-click DisableAntiSpyware and change its value to 1.

Windows Defender will not load after the next computer restart. To enable Windows Defender again, you can either delete the created registry key or simply change its value to 0.

Please note that you can’t completely uninstall the Windows Defender. Even if you manage to delete its service or files, it will most likely be restored on the next major Windows update.

There are a few scenarios where the user wants to disable a specific part of the Windows Defender system. We will discuss the scenarios below.

How to turn off Windows Firewall only

To turn off Windows Firewall only and keep using other Windows Defender functionality, follow the steps below:

1. Open Windows Settings (Windows key + i)
2. Click on Update & Security and then Windows Security
3. In the right-hand pane, click on Open Windows Security
4. From the left-hand pane, select Firewall & network protection
5. In the right-hand pane, you will see three protection types. Domain network, Private network, Public network.
6. Click on each network type and toggle it to disabled.

This will only turn off the firewall. The antivirus and other functionality of Windows Defender will keep on working.

How to turn off Windows Defender real-time antivirus only

If you want to turn off the antivirus real-time functionality only, you can follow the steps below:

1. Open Windows Settings (Windows key + i)
2. Click on Update & Security and then Windows Security
3. From the left-hand pane, click on Virus & threat protection
4. In the right-hand pane, toggle real-time protection to off.

Verdict

If you have not installed any third-party antivirus, then you should keep Windows Defender running as it will protect you from the most common virus/hacking threats while you are connected to the Internet. There should always be an anti-malware solution running on your computer at all times. These methods should be used to disable the security software temporarily.

I hope this has been informative for you. If there are any other easier ways to enable or disable Windows Defender, please let us know in the comments below!

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