Not every user is necessarily a fan of Microsoft’s free antivirus program. Many people who, for years, have counted on the products of other providers to protect their computers from malware and viruses, will likely want to continue to use them on their Windows 10 devices. However, before you go ahead and install any other programs to fend off viruses, Trojan horses and malware, it’s important to disable Windows Defender.
Contents
How to turn off Windows Defender step-by-step
If you’d like to use a different antivirus program than Windows Defender, you’ll need to turn off Windows Defender which is automatically activated in Windows 10. But don’t disable Defender unless you have another antivirus program ready to be installed. That’s because without active anti-virus protection, you’re exposed to a massive security risk.
It’s also not advisable to run multiple antivirus programs at the same time. Many security programs are not compatible with one anotherand block each other’s protective features when used simultaneously. If you want to switch to another provider’s product, turn off all Windows Defender features as follows:
Open the Windows Security Center via the following pathway: Click on the Windows logo, then on the cog icon, followed by the “Update & Security” section and select “Windows Security” in the left tab. Then open Windows Defender.
In the main “Windows Security” menu, select “Virus & threat protection”. Next, click on “Manage settings” under “Settings for virus & threat protection”.
Disable each of the sliders for “Real-time protection”, “Cloud-delivered protection”, “Automatic sample submission” and “Tamper Protection” by clicking on them. These security features are now deactivated and your PC is no longer protected.
After you have deactivated the virus and threat protection of Windows Defender, you will also need to disable the Firewall. To do this, select the “Firewall & network protection” menu item on the left side of the security center.
Click on “Advanced settings”. You will now see the advanced settings of the Windows Defender firewall in a separate window. After right-clicking on the menu item “Windows Defender Firewall” in the left main menu, select “Properties”.
In the first “Properties” tab – called “Domain Profile” – you will find the firewall status in the upper section. This should still be set to “On (recommended)”. Click on the drop-down menu for the firewall status and select “Off” instead. Next, click on “Apply” in the bottom-right part of the window. The Windows Defender firewall is now disabled. Since your PC is no longer running active protection programs, you should immediately restart it to install and set up your new antivirus program.
Windows Defender is Microsoft’s free antivirus software that allows users to protect their PC from harmful programs and cyberattacks. Defender now comes preinstalled on most Windows machines. In the past, it has attracted criticism, but with the roll-out of Windows 10, it provides good baseline protection. Turning on Windows Defender enables you to use a range of modern antivirus features to…
A firewall provides effective protection against viruses and other malware that attempts to infect your computer. However, it needs to be properly configured to do so. In the following article, you will learn how to do this, how a firewall works, and what its limitations are.
Microsoft Defender can be disabled in Settings, but will turn back on automatically when you restart your computer. If you want to turn off Defender permanently, you'll need to install a different antivirus program.
Microsoft Defender can be disabled in Settings, but will turn back on automatically when you restart your computer. If you want to turn off Defender permanently, you'll need to install a different antivirus program.
Go to Start menu, click Settings icon, then Privacy & Security. Now, choose Windows Security. Select App & Browser Control, and press Reputation-based protection settings. Here, you can customize or disable Microsoft Defender SmartScreen.
For Windows 10 version 1803 and below, the path would be Windows components > Windows Defender Security Center > Notifications. For Windows 10 version 2004 and above the path would be Windows components > Windows Security > Notifications. Open the Hide all notifications setting and set it to Enabled. Select OK.
Malware can turn off Defender and keep it off despite your best efforts to re-enable it. If you aren't able to turn Defender back on you might be infected. Install and run another malware detector of your choice and see if you can find and remove the infection.
Sometimes Windows Defender keeps turning on in Windows 10/11 due to the old license of the antivirus software. Once the license is outdated, Windows will detect that your PC isn't under protection and automatically enables its antivirus component – Windows Defender to avoid security breaches.
Please type services in the search on the taskbar and select run as administrator.Hit enter.Scroll down the page until you find software protection.Turn this off and set it to disabled.
To do this on Windows 10, go to the Security section in Windows Settings.Then select App & browser control.Finally, toggle the “Check apps and files” option to Off. This deactivates both the app and file checking functions of Microsoft Defender SmartScreen.
Turn off Defender antivirus protection in Windows Security
Select Start and type "Windows Security" to search for that app.
Select the Windows Security app from the search results, go to Virus & threat protection, and under Virus & threat protection settings select Manage settings.
Expand the tree to Windows components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus > Client interface.Double-click Suppress all notifications and set the option to Enabled. Select OK. This will prevent additional notifications from appearing.
Other obvious signs that a security alert is fake might include having alert text being read by a robotic voice, an alert being displayed in a way that is difficult to get rid of, or prompts indicating that you need to pay for support using either crypto currency or gift cards.
Introduction: My name is Francesca Jacobs Ret, I am a innocent, super, beautiful, charming, lucky, gentle, clever person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
DrHitchShutterstock 
