How to uninstall Windows Defender in Windows 10

Last Update on February 2, 2022

Here you can find instructions of how can disable Windows Defender temporary or permanent with different ways.

Windows Defender is an antimalware solution from Microsoft which comes as part of Windows 10.

You can’t fully uninstall as the other applications because it’s part of the Windows 10 but you can disable the Windows Defender for testing purposes or forever.

Don’t forget that whenever decide to disable Windows Defender permanently you are vulnerable in all threads in the Internet (from smaller to bigger)

You must have decide to use another Anti malware solution that you prefer.

Let’s follow one by one the steps to disable the Windows Defender

How to Disable Windows Defender temporary

You have two different ways to disable Windows Defender temporary and do your tests

From the Security Console
From the Powershell

How to Disable Windows Defender from the Security Console

Click Start — Settings

Select Update & Security

From the left side click in Windows Security
Click on Virus & Threat Protection

Click Manage Settings in Virus & threat protection settings

Turn off the Real Time protection bar.

Remember that the Windows Defender Service will still be Run .

How to Disable Windows Defender from Powershell

Another one way to disable Windows Defender Antivirus temporary is from Powershell.

It’s not difficult and it’s the quicker method

First we must disable the Tamper Protection.
Right Click on the icon of Windows Defender in the right side of the taskbar.
Select View Security Dashboard
Click on Virus & Threat Protection
Click Manage Settings in Virus & threat protection settings
Disable the Tamper Protection

Then

Open the Powershell as Administrator

Run the following command
Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $true

In the above two different ways you can enable the Real Protection manual whenever you want.

How to Disable Windows Defender permanently

If you want to disable Windows Defender permanently then you can do it with multiple ways.

You can disable it with the following ways

From the Group Policy
From the Registry

Just you must decide which is the easier for you

Disable the Windows Defender from the Group Policy

You can disable the Windows Defender permanently from Local Group Policy of your Workstation\Laptop.

Microsoft from Windows 10 1903 official has activate the Tamper Protection in the security features.

Before enable the Group Policy you must disable the Tamper Protection from Windows Defender. If you don’t do it then any action to disable the Windows Defender will fail.

To disable the Tamper Protection must:

Go in Start – Settings – Update & Security – Windows Security
Click on Virus & Threat Protection
Click Manage Settings in Virus & threat protection settings
Disable the Tamper Protection

You will get a Warning that the device maybe Vulnerable.

Now you can apply the Group Policy successful.

Write group policy in the search bar
Click on edit Group Policy

Expand the Administrative Templates
Expand the Windows Components
Find out the Windows Defender Antivirus and click on it
From the right side double click on Turn of Windows Defender Antivirus

Select the Enabled

Click OK and close the Group Policy
Restart the Workstation or Laptop

Because you have disable the Windows Defender from Group Policy when you will go in Virus & threat protection settings you will identify that the Real Protection bar is greyed out and the Status is On.

Unfortunately you can’t verify the Status from the Security Settings anymore.

The only way to do this is from Powershell

Click in Search and type Powershell
Select Run as Administrator

Type the following command
Get-MpPreference
Verify that the option DisableRealtimeMonitoring is true

Disable the Windows Defender from the Registry

First of all we must disable the Tamper Protection.

Right Click on the icon of Windows Defender in the right side of the taskbar.
Select View Security Dashboard
Click on Virus & Threat Protection
Click Manage Settings in Virus & threat protection settings
Disable the Tamper Protection

Now type in the search regedit

Expand the HKEY—LOCAL_MACHINE – SOFTWARE –Microsoft
Right Click on Microsoft Defender
Select New – DWORD(32bit Value)

Rename to DisableAntiSpyware and change the Value from 0 to 1

Restart the Workstation
The quicker way to verify that the Windows Defender disabled is from Powershell
In Search type Powershell and select Run As Administrator

Type the following command
Get-MpPreference
Verify that the DisableRealtimeProtection is True

The other ways is the classic one.

Click Start — Settings
Select the Update & Security
From the left side click in the Windows Security
Click on Virus & Threat Protection
Click Manage Settings in Virus & threat protection settings
Check the Real-time Protection Settings bar

Windows Defender in Windows 10 gives you an advance real time protection. It’s recommended to disable Windows Defender only when you want to test or try any action and be sure that excluded from Windows Defender.

Be sure that in any case you are protected with a good Antimalware solution. It’s very important to protect your privacy in the Internet today.

I hope to find something useful in this article.

Have fun

Tzouvaras Konstantinos

Kostas is the founder of the Onlinesecurityworld.com . He has over 20 years experience in IT industry. He's passionate about security and how can protect the online privacy.