How do you turn off Windows Defender completely?

Lothar · 08 Aug 2015

When you go to turn off defender, a message tells you, " You can turn this off temporarily, but if it's off for a while we'll turn it back on automatically."

First problem I have is with grammar. The folks at Microsoft should know NOT to use a coma and the word But next to each other as they mean the same thing.. grammatically this is wrong and redundant. This reads as major unprofessional.

Second problem is the language, it's rude. Who The Hell does Microsoft think they are not being gentile about this 180 change of events. People aren't gonna be happy about this change in policy for defender but they sound so flip about it.

Third problem is of course this app is not critical to the operation of the operating system (it's an extra offered for your use but in no way critical.) I can and should be able to replace this software with any anti-virus I choose. If Microsoft demands they have the right to turn on this unwanted software whenever they like then it WILL cause problems for other anti-virus software or apps I wish to run. I need to disable this completely so Microsoft cannot turn it back on. Whats the hack for this fix?

You · 08 Aug 2015

This might help :): Windows Defender - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Lothar · 08 Aug 2015

You said:

This might help :): Windows Defender - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Thanks !!!

Dch48 · 08 Aug 2015

It will NOT turn it back on if you have a different AV installed. It just means that if you only have Defender you can disable it temporarily to install something and that you won't have to turn it back on afterwards because it will do it by itself.

I have found however, That if you do have another AV installed and disable it, Defender will almost immediately turn on. It will turn itself back off when you reenable the other AV. It just tries to ensure that you are always protected in some way.

Keldian · 08 Aug 2015

1. Using a comma before "but" in the message you quoted is not only correct, it's grammatically mandatory. Given that your post is teeming with grammar and spelling errors, you shouldn't be trying to correct anyone else's.

2. Windows Defender is an anti-malware, not a firewall. The two serve entirely different purposes, so you cannot replace one with the other. You can however, disable the Windows firewall pretty easily.

3. Installing another anti-malware solution will disable Windows Defender as long as it stays active. Otherwise, it is in fact critical to keep Windows Defender active, as you do need some form of protection.

You · 08 Aug 2015

Keldian said:

1. Using a comma before "but" in the message you quoted is not only correct, it's grammatically mandatory. Given that your post is teeming with grammar and spelling errors, you shouldn't be trying to correct anyone else's.

2. Windows Defender is an anti-malware, not a firewall. The two serve entirely different purposes, so you cannot replace one with the other. You can however, disable the Windows firewall pretty easily.

3. Installing another anti-malware solution will disable Windows Defender as long as it stays active. Otherwise, it is in fact critical to keep Windows Defender active, as you do need some form of protection.

Not all antiviruses will automatically disable Defender. If they don't and your antivirus isn't detected by Security and Maintenance (equivalent of Action Center), it will keep re-enabling Defender using up computer resources and causing conflicts with other antiviruses. Some antiviruses will believe that Defender is a virus itself because if they both attempt to remove a virus at the same time and Defender attempts to prevent the file from being accessed by anything, that might be taken as an attempt by a virus to prevent removal by an AV and the antivirus will remove Defender, causing loads of issues.

Keldian · 08 Aug 2015

You said:

Not all antiviruses will automatically disable Defender. If they don't and your antivirus isn't detected by Security and Maintenance (equivalent of Action Center), it will keep re-enabling Defender using up computer resources and causing conflicts with other antiviruses. Some antiviruses will believe that Defender is a virus itself because if they both attempt to remove a virus at the same time and Defender attempts to prevent the file from being accessed by anything, that might be taken as an attempt by a virus to prevent removal by an AV and the antivirus will remove Defender, causing loads of issues.

That's slightly pedantic. I was obviously not accounting for AV software that's so poorly designed it interferes with a service that's been included with the OS for 4 generations now. I'm referring to mainstream solutions like Avast, ESET, Avira, Kaspersky, etc. which is what people typically go with.

invertedzero · 08 Aug 2015

You said:

Not all antiviruses will automatically disable Defender. If they don't and your antivirus isn't detected by Security and Maintenance (equivalent of Action Center), it will keep re-enabling Defender using up computer resources and causing conflicts with other antiviruses. Some antiviruses will believe that Defender is a virus itself because if they both attempt to remove a virus at the same time and Defender attempts to prevent the file from being accessed by anything, that might be taken as an attempt by a virus to prevent removal by an AV and the antivirus will remove Defender, causing loads of issues.

I have Bitdefender, and it turns off Windows Defender successfully... for a while then Defender manages to reactivate itself, then Security and Maintenance warns it's using both Bitdefender and Windows Defender at the same time for AV and Spyware protection.

Not only this, but I cannot get the Firewall settings to work well with Sharing and Network Discovery. I can't turn off Windows Firewall without it turning on network discovery and file sharing, and vice versa. Yet in Security and Maintenance it'll say Bitdefender Firewall is on and Windows off, yet in Windows Firewall it says it's on for both Public and Home networks. It's driving me mad, don't know if this is down to Win10 or Bitdefender / both

You · 08 Aug 2015

invertedzero said:

I have Bitdefender, and it turns off Windows Defender successfully... for a while then Defender manages to reactivate itself, then Security and Maintenance warns it's using both Bitdefender and Windows Defender at the same time for AV and Spyware protection.

Not only this, but I cannot get the Firewall settings to work well with Sharing and Network Discovery. I can't turn off Windows Firewall without it turning on network discovery and file sharing, and vice versa. Yet in Security and Maintenance it'll say Bitdefender Firewall is on and Windows off, yet in Windows Firewall it says it's on for both Public and Home networks. It's driving me mad, don't know if this is down to Win10 or Bitdefender / both

If you'd rather use the Windows Firewall, you can disable the Bitdefender firewall.

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You · 08 Aug 2015

Keldian said:

That's slightly pedantic. I was obviously not accounting for AV software that's so poorly designed it interferes with a service that's been included with the OS for 4 generations now. I'm referring to mainstream solutions like Avast, ESET, Avira, Kaspersky, etc. which is what people typically go with.

I was just explaining why this person might want to disable Defender permanently. Most antiviruses try to disable Defender, but under certain circumstances (E.g. corrupt settings), they will not be detected. You could do a refresh or clean install, but disabling Defender by force is probably the easier solution.