How to Turn On or Off Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10  

Qubick said:

Hi fellas, First excuse my grammar mistakes, I had a problem with Microsoft Defender, it kept turning itself back on despite every change in registry/group policy, so I had an idea which I wasn't sure if it's going to work because it was too obvious... I went through all Microsoft Defender settings and turned all of them off and then added the fixes' trough registry/group policy, and it worked! (I used the same settings you guys provided in the first post.) it didn't turn itself back on again, and all the settings was there, and I tested it with blackbird (a privacy tool which Microsoft Defender detects it as a virus because it "tampers" with windows settings...) and it didn't get deleted by Microsoft Defender, so I guess, success?
BTW my Windows version is: 20H2 19042.804 Pro

It doesn't matter what your current Windows version is. If you INSTALLED Windows with the latest 20H2 version then you can't disable the Defender with registry or Group policy (the only way to disable it is with the external app mentioned before).
But if you installed Windows with a version prior to 20H2 then disabling the Defender with registry or Group policy works OK.

Just another idea to disable Defender in Registry:

What about booting a computer from USB Flash drive with another Windows 10 (or even Windows7).

Since this Windows is completely independent from the first on hard disk/SSD the registry hives (files) of the first Windows 10 are not blocked/locked.

When I use now a Registry Editor from the second (USB based) Windows one could edit the Registry of the first Windows and switch the "disable Defender" Registry key values.

These free Registry Editors should be able to change external Registries:

Registry Finder

or

Resplendence Software - Free Downloads


I haven't tried it out but I guess it should work.

Any comments?

I dont think it would work for 1809, I think Shawn is right that even though it reports tamper proof as disabled, it is acting as if enabled, so if you adjusted the registry externally, the tamper proof would turn it back on? No idea on the newer builds.

I am generally satisfied with my task scheduler solution. I have avoided using closed source 3rd party programs, as well as using a method that I can toggle with a simple click of the mouse.

Is there an easy way to complete disable totally the microsoft defender antivirus and enable it?
Just like push a button?

grigoris said:

Is there an easy way to complete disable totally the microsoft defender antivirus and enable it?
Just like push a button?

Yep, it's called Defender Control and can be found at Simplify Your computer Usage

It works on Home if the commands are run via NSudo, which is used in my scripts for controlling Windows Update.