Windows Defender is the default application protections from viruses of Windows 10. Older versions of Windows such as Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Vista also had the app but it was less effective as it only looked for spyware and adware.
In Windows 8 and Windows 10, Defender is application-based Microsoft Security Essentials, which offers better protection by adding full protection against all kinds of malware.
However, if you prefer to use an alternative to protecting your PC, you may want to turn off Windows Defender.
Below we will see how you can do it in the Windows 10 Fall Creators update.
The latest version of Windows 10 is a new application called Windows Defender Security Center. The application was formerly known as “Windows Defender Control Panel” or Windows Defender Dashboard, and was developed to help control security and privacy settings in a clearer and more useful way. It includes all settings related to Windows Defender.
From Windows Defender Security Center, you can temporarily disable Windows Defender in the Windows 10 Fall Creators update, but after a while, it will turn on automatically again. We will see how you can permanently disable Windows Defender in Windows 10.
We will use a tweak in the Registry, with the following code:
Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows Defender] "DisableAntiSpyware" = dword: 00000001 "DisableOnAccessProtection" 00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows Defender \ Real-Time Protection] DisableBehaviorMonitoring "= dword: 00000001" DisableScanOnRealtimeEnable "= dword: 00000001
You can if you want to create your own .reg file (name it as you wish, but make sure it ends with the .reg extension and not .reg.txt) and double-click it to run it on your computer.
Just confirm the UAC prompt and click Yes to pass it commands in the Registry.
Then you need to restart Windows 10.
The necessary registry configuration files are also available below and you can download them ready. The zip also includes a script to undo the above commands, if at some point you want the application again on your computer.
Note: The Windows Defender icon will not leave the task bar
To hide the icon, you must stop MSASCuiL.exe from startup.
Let's see how you can disable the Windows Defender Tray Center Security Center icon.
Open it Task Manager, right-click in the lower left corner of your screen. Select Task Manager and in the window that will open select the Startup tab.
Right click and disable or Disable
