HOW TO TURN OFF ANTIVIRUS ON COMPUTER UPDATE

20, Microsoft changed the language on the DisableAntiSpyware documentation page (opens in new tab) to further clarify what's happening here. UPDATE: Microsoft tries to clarify the situationĪfter this story was initially posted Aug. But Defender will turn itself back on after a while if there's no other AV software installed - which, again, is a good thing. That's a good option to have if you're testing system performance, for example.

You can still temporarily disable Defender by going into Windows Security -> Virus & Threat Protection -> Virus & Threat Protection Settings -> Manage Settings, and then toggling off Real-Time Protection.

HOW TO TURN OFF ANTIVIRUS ON COMPUTER UPDATE

It would leave you naked to the big bad world of Things that Try to Infect Your Computer, but I guess some people prefer it that way.īut with this month's update to Windows Defender, that Registry option to permanently disable Defender has itself been disabled, unless you're running a server instead of a PC. (Hat tip to Windows Latest (opens in new tab) for spotting this first.)

That would disable Windows Defender whether or not you had a third-party antivirus solution installed. Until this month, however, you could go into the Windows Registry and enable an option called ' DisableAntiSpyware (opens in new tab).' In this way, you've always got some measure of antivirus protection. If you remove the third-party antivirus program, then Windows Defender will kick back on.

How to turn off antivirus on computer