

It might feel counter-intuitive to select these options because the names suggest that you're turning Microsoft Defender Antivirus off. Scroll to the bottom of the list and select Turn off Microsoft Defender Antivirus.Select Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus.Then select Edit group policy from the listed results. Turn on Microsoft Defender AntivirusĬomplete the following steps to turn on Microsoft Defender Antivirus on your device. This article describe how to update your device settings to meet your organization's antivirus requirements and resolve access problems. Microsoft Defender Antivirus is an antivirus software that's included in Windows and can help protect your device from viruses, malware, and other threats. In the right pane you will see the message that Windows Defender is turned off.Ĭlick the 'Turn on now' button to enable Windows Defender again.Organizations want to ensure that devices accessing their resources are secured, so they may require you to use Microsoft Defender Antivirus and additional Windows Security features. Open the Control panel and navigate to Control Panel\System and Security\Action Center. To enable it back, you can use the Action Center applet from the classic Control panel. Now, in the right pane you will see the 'Turn on this app' checkbox. Untick it to disable Windows Defender.Ĭlick the 'Save changes' button to confirm the changes you made.

In the left pane, you will see the 'Administrator' item. Click it. Windows Defender will appear as the first result in the search: Open the Start screen and type the following: This can be done quickly by searching from the Start screen. To disable Windows Defender, you need to open its main window. If you are not happy with Windows Defender and would like to turn it off, follow this simple tutorial. Every time, I download some small file from the Internet, it also makes my browser hang. I have done benchmarks with it enabled and then disabled and concluded that the filter driver it installs on the system slows down disk I/O noticeably. While Windows Defender provides very baseline protection, it slows down your PC considerably. Since Windows 8, Windows Defender is the same application as Microsoft Security Essentials, which exists as a separate download for Windows 7, Vista and XP. Windows Defender is an antivirus software which provides 'baseline protection' according to Microsoft and ships with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. RECOMMENDED: Click here to fix Windows issues and optimize system performance
