How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10

Windows Defender is an antivirus program that comes pre-built with Windows 10. Earlier, everyone suggests you have an alternate Antivirus software than what Windows offers.

In this article, you will learn how to turn off windows defender in Windows 10 in just 1 min and its benefits and importance.

With Windows 10, Microsoft has improved their Antivirus mechanism (Windows Defender). But still, some prefer to go for third-party Antivirus software like Kaspersky, McAfee or Avira.

Sometimes, you want temporarily or permanently disable the Windows Defender on your Windows 10. How to Turn off Windows Defender in Windows 10 is very easy. By following this blog, you can do it in just 1 min.

Check this article to learn how to hide the taskbar on Windows 10.

How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10

On your Windows 10 device, follow the below instruction to disable Windows Defender.

Press Windows Key on your Keyboard
Select Setting in the options
On the Settings Page, Select Update & Security
Now Select Windows Security
Open Virus & threat protection
Now click Manage Setting on the Virtus & threat protection Settings.
Here on the top, Switch Real-time protection to Off.
You will be prompted to confirm by pressing Yes.

That’s it. This is how you can disable windows defender real-time scan on Windows 10 devices.

Note Scheduled scans will continue to run. However, files that are downloaded or installed will not be scanned until the next scheduled scan.

How to Turn off Windows Defender Permanently

Manually turning off the Windows Defender on your device is a quick process; Windows can automatically turn on the Windows Defender after a short period.

If you want to disable Windows Defender on your Windows 10 device permanently, you can do it through Group Policy or Registry setting. This is how to turn off windows defender permanently on your Windows 10 device.

Check this article to learn how to recreate corrupted user profile in Windows 10.

How to Turn off Windows Defender using Group Policy

Press Window Key on your keyboard
Type gpedit.msc on the search bar
Open the Group Policy Editor through Run as administrator.

Now right-click on the policy and click Edit.
This will bring up the Group Policy Management Editor.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender.
Look for the policy setting “Turn Off Windows Defender“.

Right-click on the policy setting and click Edit.
Click the Enabled radio button to enable this policy
Then click Apply and OK to close.

You have successfully Turned Off the Windows Defender Antivirus using the Group Policy option.

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How to Turn off Windows Defender Using Registry Editor

The registry is another option that you can use to disable Microsoft Defender on your Windows 10 device.

Follow the below instruction on your Windows 10 device to turn off Windows defender using the Registry editor.

Press Window on your keyboard
Type Registry editor on the search screen
Select Registry Editor and click Run as administrator to open Registry Editor in Administrative mode.

In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender

Double Click on DisableAntiSpyware
Change the Vault data from 0 to 1.

Here 0 defines enabled, and 1 defines disabled. You can make the changes as per your needs accordingly.

That’s it, now you have learned how you can disabled Windows Defender using Registry Editor.

Are you still confused about the above setting? Watch this youtube tutorial on How to Disable Windows 10 Defender and follow the same steps on your Windows 10 device.