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How to disable Windows Defender on Windows 10? 4 Easy Methods:
How to disable Windows Defender on Windows 10? The default security application on your PC is Microsoft Windows Defender.
Windows Defender lacks the specialized protection provided by third-party software and instead just provides medium-level security, which is a negative.
The user may want to turn off the program so they can install antivirus software and make their machine more secure. So that you may easily disable this program, below are some tips on how to disable Windows Defender.
Method 1:
Install third-party Antivirus Software:
Detecting other antivirus software will automatically deactivate Windows Defender, preventing conflicts. But only the Windows Defender firewall is gonna work on your computer.
By using this method, when you uninstall the antivirus program Windows Defender automatically reactivates, so it is quite convenient. Below are the methods you can use to permanently disable it.
Method 2:
Temporarily Disable Windows Defender (From Setting):
If you want to disable Windows Defender temporarily then follow the guide given below.
- First, double-click on the Windows Defender icon on the Taskbar.
- In the Home tab, go to ‘Virus & Threat protection’ then select Virus & Threat protection settings.
- Now, switch the optional Real-time protection status to ‘Off’ (as shown below).
Method 3:
Disable Windows Defender Antivirus via Local Group Policy:
If you are using Windows 10 Pro or other versions such as Enterprise or Education, you can use the Local Group Policy Editor to completely disable Windows Defender on your computer.
- Press the Windows + R key (in combination) to open the Run command window.
- When the Run command window opens, just type gpedit.msc into it and press ‘Enter’ or click ‘OK’ to open the Local Group Policy Editor window.
- In the Local Group Policy Editor window Navigate to the following key:
Computer Configuration => Administrative Templates => Windows Components => Windows Defender (as shown below).
Go to Enabled to disable Windows Defender.
Just continue to click Apply => OK
After completing the steps, if you look, you will see that the Windows Defender icon continues to appear in the system tray. To remove this icon, simply restart your computer.
If you want to reactivate Windows Defender, follow the same steps and in step 5, select the Not configured option, then restart your computer to apply the changes.
Method 4:
Disable Windows Defender Antivirus by Registry Editor:
If you are using Windows 10 Home, you will not be able to access the Local Group Policy Editor. However, you can still disable Windows Defender just by using the Registry.
Note: Before you follow the given steps, first create a backup of the Registry to avoid the worst-case scenario. To back up, open the File then go to ‘Export’ … to create a backup Registry file. When you want to recover, you just open the File => Import … then you just navigate to the backup file and then restore it.
- Press Windows + R to open the Run window, then you type Regedit into it and press Enter (or click OK) to open the Registry.
- On the Registry window navigate to the following key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows Defender
- In case, DWORD DisableAntiSpyware is not found, right-click on any empty space, then go to New => DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Give this key a new name that is ‘DisableAntiSpyware’.
- Now, double-click on the new key that is just created, set the value in the Value Data frame from 0 to 1.
In the last step, simply restart your computer and enjoy the results. In this case, you want to reactivate Windows Defender, you just need to access it in the same order as above and change the key value from 0 to 1.
Depending on your computer’s usage patterns, you can choose for yourself how to properly disable Windows Defender.
However, it should be noted that although Windows Defender is not powerful antivirus software, it is still an effective antivirus program. And updating Windows regularly with Windows Defender is also a good way to protect your computer from threats.
Hope this guide is helpful and has guided you well. For any questions or queries let us know via the comments box given below. Also, click here if you want a guide on ‘How to change a user name on Windows 10‘