Disable standard antivirus on Windows 10. How to disable Windows Defender

Windows Defender is a set of modules from Microsoft designed to monitor suspicious changes and eliminate potentially dangerous components. The program has various settings and the ability to disable it if not needed. This method is identical on all versions of Windows.

Windows Defender Basics

Defender takes over the functions of the antivirus in the event of its absence. In practice, the application in question guarantees protection only from the so-called. "Trojans". To combat other malicious products, you need to install third-party antiviruses. The developer of the defender additionally notifies the owner about this.

The product arsenal is quite rich. Defender allows you to do the following:
monitor autostart;
control security settings;
monitor applications that are activated with IE;
control browser settings;
regulate the operation of various files and add-ons that start with the browser;
monitor the functioning of drivers and services;
regulate the actions of installed and already installed programs;
monitor files and add-ons for registering and launching various software products;
control the order of updating OS modules.

The list of functions may vary depending on the version of Defender and Windows itself.

Enabling Defender

To turn on the product and check that it is working correctly, go to Start.

The screenshot shows the window of the product in question. In all current versions of the OS, the menu has almost the same appearance.

If the defender does not turn on, activate it yourself. Find the “Services” program through the search bar in “Start” and go into it.

Open the defender service. Go to the Startup type tab, select automatically (delayed launch) from the drop-down list and turn on the defender by clicking on “Run”.

Defender will be activated.

Disabling Defender

If necessary, the defender can be turned off directly from its settings.
In Control Panel, turn on Small Icons and then look for Windows Defender.

Open the "Programs" item.


2. Open the branch: Local Group Policy Editor -> Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Defender or ( Endpoint Protection) -> Real-time protection and in the right window select Turn off real-time protection

The capabilities of the built-in Windows Defender antivirus, as well as the capabilities of Internet Exlporer, have long been legendary. And if the latter at least allows you to go online and download the installer for a normal browser (and new versions of IE allow you to do this faster, which is good), then Defender, alas, is only capable of loading the processor and disk once a day, and displaying notifications about the scan performed. However, such a check is of little use - reviews from independent sites show that Windows Defender provides only the most basic protection:

As you can see, it is on the penultimate line from the bottom - only Comodo antivirus is worse. Therefore, there is no particular point in keeping Defender turned on - firstly, it turns itself off when installing a third-party antivirus, and secondly, even if it is turned on, it will not be able to provide protection, but it will consume computer resources.

In Windows 8.1 and lower, Defender could be disabled without problems from the Control Panel - yes, Windows displayed a notification once that the system was left without protection, and that’s all. But in Windows 10, Microsoft decided to do one unpleasant thing:

That is, Windows 10 itself turns on Defender after some time, and, of course, immediately after launch it begins scanning the system, which greatly slows down devices with weak processors and hard drives. However, the ability to disable Defender still remains, and there are even two ways.

Disabling Windows Defender via Registry Editor (suitable for all versions of Windows 10)

First, go to the registry editor - to do this, press Win + R, in the window that opens, enter regedit and press Enter:

After that, go to the path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - SOFTWARE - Policies - Microsoft - Windows Defender:

Right-click on the empty space on the right, select New - DWORD Value, and name this parameter DisableAntiSpyware:

Right-click on it - Edit, set the value to 1 and click OK:

That's it, after restarting the computer, Defender will be completely disabled. To enable it again, you need to change the value of the created parameter to 0, save the changes and reboot, then click on Start - Settings (gear icon) - Update and Security - Windows Defender - Enable, and in the window that opens, click “Run”.

Disabling Windows Defender via Group Policy (only suitable for Windows 10 Pro)

For Pro version users, it is possible to disable Defender more easily. To do this, press Win+R, enter gpedit.msc and press Enter:

In the window that opens, go to Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Windows Components - EndpointProtection:

Go to the “Disable EndpointProtection” parameter, change the value to “Enabled”, save the changes and restart the PC:

That's it, the built-in antivirus is turned off. To enable it, you need to return the parameter value to “Not configured”, save the changes and reboot. After the reboot, you need to click on Start - Settings (gear icon) - Update and Security - Windows Defender - Enable, and in the window that opens, click “Run”.

A fairly large circle of users are thinking about how to disable Windows 10 Defender. This picture is observed only because of the negative reputation of the latter. Windows Defender in Windows 8, its predecessor Microsoft Security Essentials in Windows 7 and Vista were not the best antiviruses. Despite the fact that now, in 2017, “Defender” has become much better and more functional, and the system itself has lost many of its shortcomings, there are few people who want to use the standard tool. Negative advertising played a role, now a significant number of inexperienced users are thinking about how to disable Windows Defender.

Reasons for failure

For a long time, Microsoft Security Essentials, released in 2009, was a pitiful semblance of protection, which blocked only “cracks” and “software crackers,” while rudkits, keyloggers and worms entered the system without hindrance. Over time, it acquired the reputation of being a “slow” antivirus that was unable to protect a PC. And if the situation has changed since 2012, the program has become more reliable, less demanding, users have already switched to other solutions.

Even now, thanks to its former glory, it is disabled on most devices by installing third-party antivirus solutions.

Like Vista SP1, it was unable to overcome the negativity initially created by the release. Despite the fact that Vista SP2 worked quite stably, users abandoned the licensed OS in favor of pirated versions of XP. The same thing is observed with Defender from Microsoft; its use allows you to load your PC less, especially weak ones, but it is not at all popular. A lot of materials on the Internet are devoted to his special shutdown.

It’s easier for users to install Kaspersky and complain about a weak laptop than to use standard protection.

Why disable defender

Users who are accustomed to downloading hacked software from the Internet and running pirated versions of the OS cannot normally use a computer with Defender, because it will indicate their illegal actions and will block many “crooked” programs. Everyone who creates or uses homemade “assemblies” knows that the “top ten” should only be used with third-party security tools. As a rule, for such purposes, software products from the Chinese (360 antivirus) or free versions of Avast and Avira are built into the OS. These programs do not respond to pirated software, so it is necessary to disable Windows Defender in such cases.

However, if you don’t want to reinstall systems once every month or two, then it is better to use proven, licensed software.

Download the boot image from the Microsoft website; as a last resort, if there is no license, use the activator. The system will be clean and devoid of “changes” by home-grown domestic underground developers. Often their masterpieces work simply disgustingly, and some even “leak” all the data to the “developer” himself.

Innovations of the “August update”

In Windows 10 version 1607 and newer, Defender is always enabled and starts automatically. It even works in parallel with third-party products.

The corporation tried to promote its product more firmly, so it works constantly in the new version of Windows 10. You can disable it at startup by launching the task manager and checking the Windows Defender Notificationicon item in the Startup tab. After which it will not appear in the startup menu or tray, but it will not stop working. To completely disable Windows 10 Defender, just use a utility like DWS or dig into the registry. You can also disable it from the menu. To do this, click on the “Start” menu, select “Settings”, then “Update and Security”, and then “Defender” and check the box to turn it off. But after a while it will turn back on itself. It would be safer to use the Group Policy Editor (does not work on the Home version) or the Registry Editor.

If you are afraid to delve into such jungle in Windows 10, you can disable protection in one click using the DWS utility or similar programs.

Disabling using OS tools

When you need to know how to disable Windows 10 Defender permanently, the best solution is to use the Group Policy Editor: hold down the Win+R key combination and enter in the “Run” line of the window: gpedit.msc. Next, go to: “Computer Configuration” - “Administrative Templates” - “Windows Components” - “EndpointProtection”. On the right side of the editor you will see the EndpointProtection item, double-click on the “Turn off Endpoint Protection” item. Click then "OK" and exit the editor. To enable the function, simply select the appropriate item.

If you are using the Home version of Windows, it is better to use the Registry Editor. You can run it using the Win+R combination and the regedit command in the Run window.

To disable Defender through the registry, you need to go to the path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Policies\ Microsoft\ WindowsDefender. If there is no Disable AntiSpyware at this address, create this DWORD value with this name. If you set the parameter to 0, the defender will be disabled, and 1 will be enabled.

Using third-party antivirus programs

If you have installed a third-party antivirus, then you do not need to know how to disable windowsdefender; it will turn off automatically. On the other hand, using a computer without an antivirus at all is extremely dangerous, despite all the perfection of the “ten”.

Remember, in Windows 10 there are a lot of other, not particularly necessary applications and advertising that should be turned off, but this does not particularly apply to the defender, it can fight viruses quite adequately and already in 2016 it became less intrusive.

If the computer is used exclusively for surfing, then turning off the antivirus without installing an alternative is a huge stupidity.

Modern viruses can penetrate a PC not only with downloaded files, but even directly from Internet pages or when viewing Flash content.

Before completely disabling the protection and opening the gate to your device, you should think several times. If you don’t like the standard antivirus, install any other one, fortunately there are a lot of them now, even in the free version. And remember, as soon as something happens to a third-party program, the computer will be protected by standard protection, which will turn on automatically.

Life without a "Defender"

Even the very first version of Windows 10, released in the summer of 2015, was much more insecure than its predecessors 8 and 7 with all the service packs. However, poor optimization with some types of hardware and the lack of many drivers did their job - the system turned out to be not so popular, and many even now prefer to use Windows 7 or even XP. But you should understand that Microsoft is working on bugs and improving its products. Moreover, unlike the Mac, which has several devices, this system is universal and designed for billions of devices. When protection is completely stopped for the sake of a ghostly improvement in performance, the user only gets viruses and problems. And you don’t even need to download something from the Internet; you can infect your PC when visiting the network directly through pages in your browser.

After the “August update,” a lot of useful features appeared in Windows 10 and stability improved. A major Creators Update is expected in mid-April, which will bring changes to the downloading of security updates and change the appearance and functionality of Defender. Don't give up on it prematurely - maybe you'll like it.

All computers running the Windows 10 operating system have a primitive antivirus installed by default, called Windows Defender. But for users who prefer third-party antiviruses, it is better to disable the standard defender and permanently remove it using the Malicious Software Removal Tool component. Fortunately, completely turning off the defender, as well as turning it back on, is not so difficult and even inexperienced users can do it.

Why disable built-in protection and is it worth doing it?

It is not recommended to disable Windows Defender until a full-fledged antivirus is installed on your computer, since if you leave the system completely unprotected and go online, the chance of catching a virus that will greatly harm your computer is very high. But if you have already acquired one of the possible third-party antiviruses, then it is better to deactivate the defender so that it does not start to conflict with the new antivirus.

How to enable, disable and configure Defender antivirus

There are several ways to prevent the defender from turning on or to turn it on again. Sometimes this may require third-party programs from the Internet. But first, let's look at the options that allow you to configure your antivirus by editing your computer settings.

Setting up and stopping for a while through computer settings

This method can only temporarily disable the program. After each computer restart, the antivirus will open on its own.

  1. Through Windows search, open the Settings service.
  2. Open the Updates and Security section.
  3. On the left side of the window, go to the Windows Defender subsection.
  4. In the “Real-time Defender” block, move the slider to “On.” or Off to enable or disable the protector. It is disabled, but only for 15–20 minutes or until the computer is rebooted for the first time. If these restrictions do not suit you, use one of the following options.

Activate and stop via Group Policy Editing Service

This method is not suitable for the home version of Windows 10, since it simply does not have such an editor. It can be installed separately, but it is better to use another method.

  1. Through Windows Search, open the Run utility.
  2. Type and run the gpedit.msc command to go to the Local Group Policy Editor.
  3. Using the folder tree on the left side of the window, expand the Windows Configuration section.
  4. Now navigate to the Administrative Templates folder.
  5. Expand the Windows Components folder.
  6. Open the Endpoint Protection destination folder.
  7. Once in the desired folder, open the “Turn off Endpoint Protection” file.
  8. Select Enabled or Disabled to enable or disable Windows Defender.
  9. Click on the “Apply” and “OK” buttons to save the changes made.
  10. A notification will appear on the screen confirming that the changes have been made and the system has remembered them.

Disable permanently via Registry Editor

This is the most correct and most complete software method, since after it the defender will never be launched again.

How to remove the standard antivirus icon from the quick access bar

If the defender icon that is in the quick access bar bothers you, you can disable it. Using this method, you can stop the service from turning on automatically after each system startup.

  1. By left-clicking on the quick access bar in an empty space, open the task manager.
  2. Expand detailed information about running processes.
  3. In the list of all applications, find the Windows Defender Notification icon, click on it and disable the auto-start process by clicking the corresponding button in the lower right corner of the task manager. Then restart your computer.

    Disable process autostart

Turn off notifications

If notifications about Windows security not being optimal appear too often, it can become annoying. There are two options: turn on Do Not Disturb mode and change system settings.

Blocking by turning on Do Not Disturb mode

This is the easiest and fastest method, but the downside is that you will stop receiving notifications not only from the standard antivirus, but also from all other applications. If this doesn’t bother you, then right-click on the “Notifications” icon in the lower right corner of the desktop and select the “Enable Do Not Disturb” option.

Add to System Settings Exceptions

Third party programs to disable

If you cannot disable the defender using the methods described above, you can use third-party free applications.

Using the Win Updates Disabler program, you can control other Windows services if necessary. The Win Updates Disabler program can be easily found on the Internet. All you need to do is download it, install it, select the options to disable and apply the changes.

Select what you want to disable

Destroy Windows 10 Spying (get rid of defender completely)

The Destroy Windows 10 Spying program is aimed at disabling the spying functions of Windows 10, but you can also disable the standard antivirus through it.

Problems with the defender working correctly

Windows Defender, like any program, can crash and turn off periodically. Let's look at the most popular mistakes.

Defender stopped starting or error code 577 appears

  1. Find Control Panel in Windows search and launch it.
  2. Go to the System and Security section.
  3. Open the "Administration" item.
  4. Start the "Services" service.
  5. In the general list, find “Windows Defender Service” and open it.
  6. If the service status is not “Running”, then click on the “Run” button, and in the startup type select “Automatic”.
  7. Click the “Apply” and “OK” buttons successively. Then restart your computer.

    Click the "Apply" and "OK" buttons

Defender does not update automatically (manual update)

Because viruses continually evolve, the defender requires constant database updates to always ensure maximum system protection. If you did not disable automatic updates of the defender, and it stopped updating itself, you need to update it manually once for the function to be restored.

Video: how to reinstall native Windows Defender

Where is it located and how to completely get rid of the malware removal tool

The Malicious Removal Tool (MRT) is another built-in Windows antivirus that quietly removes malicious programs and processes from the system, and then sends a report of the work done to Microsoft. But it may happen that MRT begins to conflict with a third-party antivirus or load the central processor. To avoid this, you can simply remove MRT, without which the system will feel completely comfortable.

To get rid of the malware removal tool, you need to go in Explorer to the path “C:\Windows\System32”, where it is written, and delete the MRT folder there.

Delete the MRT folder

Windows Defender and MRT perform the same function: ensuring system security. Make sure these two services are updated and running at all times. But it’s better to disable Windows Defender and install a third-party antivirus: despite all the efforts of the Microsoft organization, antiviruses do their job much better than standard defender.

Windows Defender is the standard antivirus app that comes by default with Windows 10 that provides always-on protection and on-demand scanning capabilities. If third-party antivirus software is installed on your computer, the Windows Defender real-time scanning engine is disabled, but the utility itself is not disabled and remains available for manual scanning of your PC.

Many users do not use a standard antivirus as their main means of protection. They believe that this utility is unnecessary, consumes PC resources and is generally annoying. In previous versions of the OS, the standard antivirus could be completely stopped through the settings, but not in the top ten. This guide will show you how to disable Windows 10 Defender permanently, temporarily.

Completely disabling Windows Defender

There are 3 ways to remove the standard defender and its service. These include the use of:

  1. Registry.
  2. Group Policy.
  3. Third party software.

Let's look at each method in more detail. Before you proceed, log in as an administrator.

Using Registry Editor

Use the Win + R buttons to bring up Run. Next, enter the command regedit, click OK. If a User Account Control warning appears, click Yes.

In the registry, visit the Windows Defender section (see the screenshot for the full path). Right-click on the right side of it (on an empty area), point to “Create”, then select “DWORD parameter (32 bits)”.

Give the new parameter the name DisableAntiSpyware, click OK, and LMB on it twice. In the Value area, enter 1, click OK. Close the registry.

Log out, then log back in for the registry changes to take effect. These steps help to completely disable Windows 10 Defender and its service.

For those who are afraid or do not want to dig inside the registry, there is another solution. There are files with the reg extension that make changes themselves. Follow these steps:


Shutdown via Group Policy

This instruction can be used by users of the OS edition of Windows Pro, Enterprise build 1709 (previous stable versions), except for Windows 10 Home, which does not have a Group Policy module. Launch the “Run” window using the Win + R button combination. Type gpedit.msc into the input line and click OK.

On the left side of the Group Policy Editor window, in the Computer Configuration section, open Administrative Templates, then Windows Components, and select the section associated with Windows Defender. In the right pane, find and double-click the option to turn off Windows Defender.

To disable Windows 10 Defender, check Enabled and click OK. Turn off Group Policy Editor.

Disabling through free programs

There are also programs that stop Windows Defender in a few clicks. Such programs include:

  • Win Updates Disabler;
  • NoDefender;
  • Winaero Tweaker;
  • Other.

Let's look at disabling, using Winaero Tweaker as an example. Follow these steps:


Once you complete the steps above, you will see in Security Center that the Threat Management Service has stopped. When you try to restart it, a corresponding message appears.

Disable Windows Defender temporarily and partially

The standard antivirus works continuously. Sometimes you need to disable this mode altogether, or for a certain period of time, while manual scanning is always available. These activities are done using:

  1. Windows Defender Security Center;
  2. Registry;
  3. Group Policy;
  4. Exceptions from standard antivirus;
  5. PowerShell and cmd.

Let's look at each method in more detail. Log in as an administrator to follow the instructions below.

Using Windows Defender Security Center

This method will disable persistent mode protection for a while until the first reboot of the PC. Launch Security Center from the system tray or Start menu.

Click the shield icon in the left menu. Next, expand the item responsible for threat protection settings.

Drag the slider to turn off the Real-time protection element. When disabling this item in the Windows 10 UAC window, click Yes.

Such actions will disable Windows 10 Defender until the first reboot or user action. In this case, the switch for this parameter will turn on itself.

Disabling via the registry

This method, unlike the first, will turn off real-time protection for as long as the user wishes. Launch search on the taskbar (magnifying glass icon). Type the command regedit in the search bar, then click Enter, and “YES” if UAC appears.

In the registry, go to the Real-Time Protection branch (full path in the image below). In the right area of ​​the registry window, right-click on an empty space, point to “New”, select DWORD (32 bits).

Name the setting DisableRealtimeMonitoring by pressing Enter. Right-click on it, then select “Edit”. Enter 1 in the value area, click OK.

Restart your PC. If you do not want to make changes to the registry yourself, then use reg files. Do the following:

  1. Download the archive with reg files and unpack it.
  2. File – Otkl_RRV: disables Windows Defender real-time scanning, file – Vkl_RRV: enables.
  3. Use RMB click on Otkl_RRV, select “Merge” from the menu. Click “Run”, “Yes”, “Yes” and OK.
  4. Restart your computer.

Stopping via Group Policy

This method is equivalent to disabling Windows Defender through the registry for a while. It just won’t work for Windows 10 Home, but all other editions can use it (Pro, Enterprise, Education). Use the Win + S combination to launch search. Type the gpedit.msc command by pressing Enter.

Navigate to the "Real-time Protection" section (full path below).

In the right area of ​​the window, double-click on the parameter responsible for turning off real-time protection.

Set it to Enabled by clicking OK for the changes to take effect immediately. You can turn off Group Policy.

Adding local drives to Windows Defender exclusions

These actions are more of a trick. Their meaning is to add all sections of your PC to exceptions. As a result, Windows Defender will not scan them or be active.

Launch Windows Defender Security Center from the system tray by clicking on it with LMB.

On the left, select the shield. Then click on the Threat Protection Settings link.

Scroll to exception settings. Then click the add exceptions link.

In the next window, click on the plus sign. Select "Folder" from the drop-down list.

Specify a local drive, click Select Folder. Next, in the UAC window, click “Yes”. If there are more disks, do the same with them. In our case, there are 2 drives C and D. It looks like this.

Using PowerShell and Cmd

This method, like the first, helps disable Windows 10 Defender in real time before rebooting. For PowerShell, follow these steps:

Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring 1

  1. Close PowerShell

For Cmd follow these steps:

PowerShell Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring 1

  1. Close cmd.

Removing an icon from the taskbar

After you have stopped Windows Defender using one of the methods above, you will probably want to remove the shield icon from the system tray. You can do this through the notification area settings or task manager.

1. Right-click on the taskbar, then select “Taskbar Options” from the menu. Scroll to the notification area settings by clicking the first link.

Make sure that the two switches (see screenshot) are in the off position. If the icon still hangs, then turn it on, then turn it off again. These steps should remove the icon.

2. Call the task manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc). Visit the Startup tab. Right-click Windows Defender and click “Disable” in the context menu. Restart your PC (log out and back in).

Turn off notifications from Windows Defender Security Center

Protection Center shows both critical and non-critical notifications. Below we will describe ways to remove them. In order not to waste your time, we have prepared registry files. These files will modify the registry key shown in the screenshot.

Follow these steps:

  1. Download the archive. Next, unzip it.
  2. The archive contains 4 files that enable and disable notifications: Vkl_nekrit_uved - enable, Otkl_nekrit_uved - disable non-critical messages; Vkl_vseh_uved – enable, Otkl_vseh _uved – disable all messages.
  3. Double-click on the selected file, then click “Run”. In the User Account Control window, click “Yes”, then “Yes” again, and OK.
  4. We log out of the account, then log back in so that the changes take effect.

Now you know how to disable Windows 10 Defender permanently, temporarily, in many ways. In general, there is no point in touching it, it eats up a little system resources, and when installing another antivirus, it disables real-time protection. You can hide the tray icon (on the taskbar) and at the same time turn off non-critical notifications so that it does not remind you of yourself.