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

Brink · 19 Nov 2022

avada said:

I see. It locks files in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender though which is annoying. I wanted to free up space. Was eyeing "Definition Updates" and "Scans", which are pretty pointles with defender disabled.

I have windows security center disabled already. :) (And I get annoyed by a toast about it on startup, that I don't know how to disable)

While it's not recommended to keep Microsoft Defender turned off if you don't have a 3rd party AV installed, you can check below to see if an option can stop the Windows Security notifications.

Enable or Disable Notifications from Windows Security in Windows 10

avada · 19 Nov 2022

Brink said:

While it's not recommended to keep Microsoft Defender turned off if you don't have a 3rd party AV installed, you can check below to see if an option can stop the Windows Security notifications.

Enable or Disable Notifications from Windows Security in Windows 10

I don't think disabling defender worked, even though I set the appropriate group policy:

How to Turn On or Off Microsoft Defender Antivirus in Windows 10-windef-svc.png

Brink · 19 Nov 2022

avada said:

I don't think disabling defender worked, even though I set the appropriate group policy:

Does it show as disabled in Windows Security?

Sammy888 · 19 Nov 2022

Brink said:

Does it show as disabled in Windows Security?

Yes.

- - - Updated - - -

Matthew Wai said:

I did not turn off "Tamper Protection", and the latest version 2.0 has managed to turn off Windows Defender. See below:

Attachment 351490

You are right. Version 2.0 works even if "Tamper Protection" is on.

Interesting. The latest version is 2.1. The makers of the app Sordum (supported by other members per comments) all say that you must disable Tamper Protection to disable Windows Defender with this application.

They also have said that due to Windows Updates including Microsoft's telemetry, it will see this application as a threat and disable it. Furthermore, there's a high degree of certainty you may run into other issues.

Microsoft does not want Defender to be turned off completely. Therefore, when defender is turned off, windows update or windows component is trying to repair Defender and as a result Defender may become corrupt. Of course a malicious program may also corrupt Defender completely. (If there is no different security software in windows, when Defender is turned off)
Microsoft is constantly taking new measures because it does not want Defender to be turned off. There is a possibility that Windows Defender may be corrupted among these measures. Therefore We will no longer update this program
Sordum.org Team

Brink · 19 Nov 2022

Sammy888 said:

Yes.

Interesting. The makers of the app Sordum (supported by other members per comments) all say that you must disable Tamper Protection to disable Windows Defender with this application.

They also have said that due to Windows Updates including Microsoft's telemetry, it will see this application as a threat and disable it. Furthermore, there's a high degree of certainty you may run into other issues.

It's disabled then. It only disables it in Windows Security, and not the service.

Correct. If Tamper Protection is not turned off from within Windows Security, it will enable them again.

avada · 20 Nov 2022

Brink said:

Does it show as disabled in Windows Security?

I re-did the group policy change and now it worked... No clue why the different outcome.

Brink · 20 Nov 2022

avada said:

I re-did the group policy change and now it worked... No clue why the different outcome.

Not sure why either, unless tamper protection wasn't turned off before last time??