Why can't I disable Windows Defender?

Hi, I've been trying to follow guides on disabling windows defender but things look different for me. First I tried this guide, I can find the "virus & threat protection" thing to click but mine looks different and can't continue to follow the instructions from that point. Here is what I see on my PC:



I also tried to follow the regedit alternative but it doesn't seem to have had any effect. Can someone please help me disable this thing?

Thank You

Windows 10 x64 Pro, Version 1909 Build 18363.592

Edit: I've been told that since I have Avast installed Defender is automatically disabled, that's a real problem, because Windows is deleting files in the same manner that Defender does, in the past I've always solved that problem by disabling Defender. Is there a way to really check to see if it has actually been disabled? Maybe it's bugged.


The error code given is this: 0x80004005

Captain Calvin said:

I've been told that since I have Avast installed Defender is automatically disabled, that's a real problem, because Windows is deleting files in the same manner that Defender does, in the past I've always solved that problem by disabling Defender....

Yes, installing another AV like Avast will turn off Defender's real-time protection. If you are getting files being 'deleted' then it would now be Avast that's doing so. What sort of files do you have that any AV would want to quarantine or remove them? Has it occurred to you that they may actually be dangerous?

Before it was Defender deleting your files, now it is Avast. WD is not active in your setup right now. So Windows is not deleting any files. YOu can check Avast Quarentine section to find your files. However, they could be false positives or they could actually be dangerous.

Folks: The OP wants to Disable Windows Defender because they are running a third-party AV product -- which is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, and they should NOT have to defend that action.

As to what SHOULD happen, I an running MBAM v4x -- and every once in a while, I get a Windows Defender message that it has quarantined something -- but it does not tell me WHAT. So, I click on the Notification, and immediately get a reply that Windows Defender has been disabled so it can't provide me that information.

I HAVE checked, and discovered that these are False Positives, in that Windows Defender did NOT actually quarantine the file -- because when I then looked in the folder, all the files are still there.

So (1) the presumption that running a third-party AV product completely disables Windows Defender is not true, and (2) even going to the trouble of disabling it in Security Settings, and even then, in Group Policy Settings does not appear to be sufficient.

I've done All of these and even to this day, I still get notifications from Windows Defender.

Mark Phelps said:

Folks: The OP wants to Disable Windows Defender because they are running a third-party AV product -- which is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, and they should NOT have to defend that action.

The OP has stated they have to disable Defender to prevent files being deleted. Their third-party AV has already disabled Defender, so it must now be the third-party AV that's deleting files. This suggests there's something 'questionable' about those files.

If the files are 'false positives' then they can be made exceptions (in any AV) but it would be unsafe to recommend that until we know what those files are. They could be cracked games with all sorts of nasty payloads for all we know.

Compumind said:

I would like to know what the OP is using for the AV and FW.

Post #1: "... I've been told that since I have Avast installed Defender is automatically disabled"