Windows – How to Turn On or Off Windows Defender in Windows 10

In Windows 10 you can turn off Windows Defender real-time protection, but it will only be temporary. Windows will automatically turn real-time protection back on if it’s off for a while.

You can turn Windows Defender off with three simple steps (Did someone say OSO?) 

Step 1 - Group Policy
  1) Type edit group policy in the 'Search the web and Windows' textbox on the left side of the taskbar.
  2) Click edit group policy from the search results.
  3) Within Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Defender, Change 'Turn off Windows Defender' from 'Not Configured' or 'Disabled' to 'Enabled'.

Step 2 - Disable Windows Defender in the registry
  1) Type regedit in the 'Search the web and Windows' textbox on the left side of the taskbar.
  2) Click regedit (Run Command) from the search results.
  3) Within Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender, Change 'DisabledAntiSpyware' from '0' to '1'.

Step 3 - Disable Windows Defender Service in the registry
  1) Reboot your computer into Safe Mode.
  2) Type regedit in the 'Search the web and Windows' textbox on the left side of the taskbar.
  3) Click regedit (Run Command) from the search results.
  4)Within Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WinDefend, Change 'Start' from '2 - Automatic' to  '4 - Disabled' or '3 - Manual'.

You can turn Windows Defender on with three simple steps by repeating the steps above.

Step 1 – Change  ‘Enabled’ to ‘Not Configured’ or ‘Disabled’
Step 2 – Change ‘1’ to ‘0’.
Step 3 – Change ‘4’ to ‘2’

Hope this helps!