Actually Permanently Disable Windows Defender

rig in signature

I am losing my goddamn mind trying to get Windows Defender to shut all the way up for good and never, ever come back. I've turned off every feature I can from within the program itself, I've followed every step here, namely:

1. open the Local Group Policy Editor
2. browse to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender Antivirus
3. on the right pane of the Local Group Policy Editor window, double-click the Turn off Windows Defender Antivirus policy
4. select the Enabled option to disable Windows Defender
5. click Apply and then click OK; restart the computer to apply the change.

and

1. open the Windows Registry Editor and browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender
2. if you don't see the DisableAntiSpyware value on the right pane of the Registry Editor's window, right-click the Windows Defender key, select New and click on DWORD (32-bit) Value
3. name the newly created value DisableAntiSpyware and press Enter
4. double-click the newly created value and set its value to 1
5. click OK and restart the computer to apply the change

NO CHANGE.

The program WILL NOT die. I am at my wit's end.

 

Never tried it myself, but came across this just a few days ago. Alternatively, you can install another antimalware and Win Defender will bow out graciously.

 

if you want to disable windows defender you will have to download another AV then it will disable defender.

 

Use Sordum's Defender Control. It's one click to disable and enable Defender. Easily the best of all options to disable Defender.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/defender_control.html

 

I loathe this AV program more and more every second of my life.

I've also had clamwin installed as long as I've had windows 10 on this machine, and WD has not deferred to that program in any way whatsoever.

EDIT: I got it to run by making a manual exception in the quarantine/threat area. It's off... for now. I have a feeling this will be like an 80s horror movie franchise, and the thing will just keep coming back from the dead. Thank you for the help.

 

I don't get the "loathing". You were trying to run a script that will turn off antimalware protection. That's serious stuff! Win Defender quarantining the thing -- and throwing up a warning while giving you (the admin user) the choice to run it anyway -- via manual exception -- is exactly what any antimalware is designed to do! BTW, I tried it and it worked - saving you several clicks over turning off via Window's own Settings/Win Defender panels.

 

Impossible since it is built into the operating system. Even if you do somehow remove it the next Windows update or maybe even the next system restart will repair whatever changes you made to "remove" it because the files and folders are protected by the Windows File Protection feature.

You can replace it by installing another antivirus but you can still not uninstall it. This is for increased security. If it was easy to uninstall or disable then malware would exploit that and be a much bigger problem then it is. Antivirus is at least one program you do want to always aggressively protect itself. If not then malware authors could easily defeat it.

Clamwin sucks. Especially the free version. It's a good thing it is not recognized IMHO.

Look into a custom Windows build. They are out there and you can Windows without any protection at all. I wouldn't run one outside of a VM though and make sure you have reliable backups. I have never used one so can not give any advice.

 

I normally disable windows defender on my laptops because they take up too much resources like CPU it will continuously take's at least 50% of a APU why i have no idea why.It scans for nothing 95% of the time.Drains battery if it's on battery and a lot of time's it's annoying real so called time protection is very annoying.Microsoft has yet to fix this bug.And i am pretty sure it's a bug.I disable all features regarding the windows defender.I normally just run HIT-man pro and malware bytes and they don't find any thing on my systems and i scan them when i want to.