How to disable Windows Defender

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

There are several ways - choose the one that suits you best.

Microsoft has integrated antivirus into its OS for a reason: this tool protects the system from malware from the moment it is first launched. Therefore, Windows Defender, also known as Windows Defender or Windows Security, is a useful feature that most users need.

However, sometimes this antivirus has to be disabled. For example, from time to time Windows Defender prevents you from opening the programs you need. Or, if you prefer a third-party antivirus, it may conflict with it.

Usually, the built-in antivirus turns off after installing a new one, but sometimes this does not happen and the protection tools begin to interfere with each other - they slow down the system or see unwanted software in each other. Here's what you can do about it.

How to briefly disable Windows Defender

If you need to run a program, and Windows Defender mistakenly considers it to be malicious, you can turn it off right in the settings. This is the easiest, but you can only stop the program temporarily.

Click Settings → Windows Security → Virus & Threat Protection → Virus & Threat Protection Options → Manage Settings. Disable Real-Time Protection.

For a certain period of time, the antivirus will stop responding to your actions, even if you are working with files that it considers potentially harmful. But, as it is written in the warning next to the "Real-time protection" option, then Windows Defender will turn on automatically.

To turn off the program permanently, you will have to resort to one of the following, more complex, methods.

How to permanently disable Windows Defender

1. Click Settings → Windows Security → Virus & Threat Protection → Virus & Threat Protection Options → Manage Settings. Turn off the Anti-counterfeiting option.

2. Start Windows Registry Editor. To do this, press the Win + R keys, type regedit in the Run window and press Enter.

3. In the left pane in the registry window, go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE → SOFTWARE → Policies → Microsoft → Windows Defender directory.

4. Right-click an empty area of the window, select New → DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it DisableAntiSpyware. Double click it and set it to 1.

5. Create the AllowFastServiceStartup and ServiceKeepAlive parameters in the same way. Set them to 0.

6. Right-click the Windows Defender section in the left pane, select New → Section and create a Real-Time Protection subsection. Or open it if it's already there. In it, create the DisableIOAVProtection and DisableRealtimeMonitoring parameters. Set them to 1.

7. Then, in the same Windows Defender section, create a Spynet subkey. In it, create parameters DisableBlockAtFirstSeen with value 1, LocalSettingOverrideSpynetReporting with value 0 and SubmitSamplesConsent with value 2.

8. Now, in the left pane in the registry window, go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE → SYSTEM → CurrentControlSet → Services → WinDefend directory. Find the Start parameter and set it to 4. Note that this does not work in all versions of Windows, but it's worth a try.

9. Reboot and check Windows Security. If you did everything correctly, the antivirus will display the following message.

10. Finally, right-click on the Start menu and open Task Manager. In it, click Details, go to the Startup tab, find the Windows Defender Notification icon option, right-click it and click Disable. Reboot your computer.

How to permanently disable Windows Defender using a third-party app

If it seems to you that the described algorithm is too complicated, try the free program Dism ++. It is used to tweak the system and can, among other things, disable Windows Defender.

1. Click Settings → Windows Security → Virus & Threat Protection → Virus & Threat Protection Options → Manage Settings. Turn off the Anti-counterfeiting option.

2. Download the archive with the utility and unpack its contents, then run the version of the program that suits you (for a more or less modern computer, this is Dism ++ x64.exe).

3. In the window that appears, open "Optimization" → "Security Settings" and activate the "Disable Windows Defender" option.

4. Restart your computer.

Dism ++ →