How to disable Windows Defender

Windows Defender, popularly known as Microsoft Defender, is your PC’s first line of defense. This free feature comes with your Windows operating system and requires no manual downloads, settings or additional configuration. Although it’s pretty good at detecting some basic threats, Windows Defender has been known to detect false positives on occasion. This can be a certain inconvenience.

For this reason, it is important to know how to disable Windows Defender. But you’ll want to put it back on at some point. In this article, we will teach you how to turn off Windows Defender, turn it back on, and learn some interesting tips about it, in general.

How to disable Windows Defender

Not everyone agrees with being protected by Microsoft Defender. Some have found better alternatives and don’t want to encounter false positives all the time. Others work in Internet security and may want to test certain malware protocols, which requires disabling Windows’ proprietary firewall and antivirus software.

Whatever the case, you may want to disable the Microsoft Defender feature, temporarily or permanently. Luckily, you can disable it both permanently and temporarily, if you wish. Here’s how to do it.

Temporarily disable Windows Defender using Windows Security

Most likely, you are one of the people who wants the feature to be temporarily disabled. You may want to let a false positive pass, for whatever reason. This is best done through the Windows Security app, where the most obvious Microsoft Defender settings are located.

1. Click on the Begin menu.
   
2. Now write “Windows Security”And open it.
   
3. Once the Windows Security app opens, you will see a host of settings, ranging from Firewall and network protection to Family options. To access Microsoft Defender settings, select the first entry in the list: Protection against viruses and threats. From this screen, you can perform scans, check for updates, and access various settings.
   
4. You can also manage Microsoft Defender settings. To do so, navigate to the Protection against viruses and threats settings and click Windows Defender Antivirus Options.
   
5. From here, you can activate various protection features. In either Off.
   
6. However, to disable Microsoft Defender, navigate to the first item in the list of options: Periodic scan. Then flip the switch. Off. Please note that you may be asked to confirm this.
   

Please note that this is not a permanent solution. Microsoft Defender will automatically turn off after you restart your device again. However, this is definitely the best solution if all you need to do is skip a couple of apps.

Permanently disable Microsoft Defender using Local Group Policy Editor

Some people just don’t want to bother with Microsoft Defender. As mentioned, they may have a better protection option. Although permanently disabling Microsoft’s proprietary security feature isn’t as easy as doing it temporarily, it’s actually not complicated, as long as you carefully follow the instructions below.

To start, you will have to turn Tamper protection off. Tamper Protection makes sure that an intruder does not change any security settings on your computer to gain access to it. Well, Tamper Protection does not allow you to permanently disable Microsoft Defender. Even if you change the settings using Group Policy, the anti-tamper feature will re-enable the security system after rebooting.

If you want to disable the Tamper Protection feature.

1. Navigate to the Protection against viruses and threats screen as you did before.
2. So, low Virus and threat protection settings click on Manage settings.
3. Then scroll down to Tamper protection and move the switch to Off and confirm that you, as a system administrator, really want to disable it.

But this doesn’t mean it’s over. Just because you have disabled tamper protection does not mean that Microsoft Defender Antivirus is disabled.

1. Now you’ll have to get a little technical. Start by opening Start and searching for “gpedit.msc.” This will open the Local Group Policy Editor menu.
2. You will see the route menu on the left. Go ahead and navigate to Computer Configuration, followed by Administrative Templates, then go to Windows Components, and finally double-click the Microsoft Defender Antivirus entry. Note that on some computers, this entry will be called Windows Defender Antivirus. Don’t worry, it’s the same.
3. Once on the Microsoft Antivirus/Windows Defender path, navigate to the right, main part of the screen. You will see a list and a Disable Microsoft Antivirus/Windows Defender option. Double click on it.
4. Now, by default, the option will be disabled, which means Defender is enabled. If you enable the option, this will disable the feature. Then select Activated Click Turn off Microsoft/Windows Defender Antivirus and select OK.

There you have it, you have successfully permanently disabled the Microsoft Defender feature. Even after restarting your device, Microsoft’s proprietary antivirus feature will not be activated again. Of course, following the same guidelines, you can turn the feature back on at any time.

Using the Registry

Unless you know exactly what you’re doing, you shouldn’t waste your time with Windows Registry Editor. However, if you’ve ever disabled the Windows Defender feature in previous versions of Windows, you probably know that Registry Editor was one of the most effective ways to do it. So what happened to that?

Well, this was kept available because you didn’t have the option to disable Windows security features just like that. Some settings were built into the operating system and just a more technical approach was used to access them. Hence the role of Registry Editor and the whole “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” configuration type.

However, Microsoft Defender now offers solutions to disable security features both temporarily and permanently. They are relatively easily accessible, as you can see.

Therefore, Windows has decided to remove Registry Editor access to this option; It is no longer necessary and remains a risk. If you make a misstep here, you risk system-wide problems. And with the options mentioned above, you don’t need to do anything from the Registry Editor feature.

How to turn Windows Defender back on

Whether you have disabled security features temporarily or permanently, you may want to turn them back on. Yes, a restart will take care of the temporary solution, but you may need Microsoft Defender without restarting. And of course, you can also revert permanent Microsoft Defender settings at any time.

Activating security features is as easy as deactivating them. Just follow the steps above and do the opposite: whenever they tell you to enable or disable something. Yes, it’s as simple as that.

Additional FAQs

1. Should I use different antivirus software?

Windows/Microsoft Defender is a valuable and often underrated security feature. It may not be the most powerful antivirus software on the market, but it is definitely a line of defense that slows down various cybercriminal activities.

That said, Microsoft Defender is rarely enough to protect your computer from various threats lurking on the Internet. Cybercrime is a real thing and there are many hackers who are waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack. Getting a reliable, quality and popular third-party software and using it in addition to the Microsoft Defender feature is definitely a smart move.

Still, it is not recommended to disable Microsoft Defender unless it is necessary to allow a false positive to pass. If you are sure you know what you are doing, you can disable it permanently.

2. Is it safe to disable Windows/Microsoft Defender?

Is the Internet world safe? Of course it isn’t. So disabling Microsoft security features on your device isn’t exactly safe either. Still, sometimes it is necessary. Microsoft Defender will generate false positives and may prevent you from doing completely secure and certified things online.

Knowing how to turn it off and turn it off occasionally is safe. As long as you know what you’re doing and are sure that what you’re getting is trustworthy online content.

3. Is it Windows Defender or Microsoft Defender?

The latest version of Windows security refers to software as Microsoft Defender. Until recently, it was called Windows Defender on all Windows platforms. Still, don’t worry if the feature is still called Windows Defender on your computer.

Even if you’ve done all the updates, your computer may have ended up keeping the old Defender name. But if you’ve been keeping up with the latest updates, all of Microsoft Defender’s features will be found in Windows Defender.

Conclusion

This is how to disable Microsoft/Windows Defender. As you can see, you can do it temporarily or permanently, depending on your preferences. Still, it is not recommended to disable the feature permanently; It’s always helpful to have an extra layer of protection on your computer, even with third-party security software.