How to Disable Windows Defender in Windows 10

Windows 10 comes with Windows Defender protection pre-installed. It can protect you from malicious programs and other undesired apps if you keep it regularly updated. But when there are much better and efficient anti-virus products are available, why would you limit yourself to the security provided by Windows Defender? I personally use AVG free anti-virus on one of my desktop computers running Windows 10 and avast! anti-virus on another notebook computer (also running on Windows 10). In fact, there are several paid and free anti-virus solutions available that have many more features and perhaps better protections than Windows Defender. You can install any of these anti-virus solutions and disable Windows Defender in Windows 10. Here is how:

  1. First of all download and install any of the anti-virus solutions available for Windows 10. You do not want to find yourself in a situation where your PC is without any protection. You can find the links to all the anti-virus products listed at https://www.virustotal.com/en/about/credits/. If you are confused, then just install avast! free anti-virus.
  2. Press Win+R hotkey to open Run dialog. Type gpedit.msc in the Run dialog and press Enter. This wil open Group Policy Editor.
  3. In the Group Policy Editor, select Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Windows Defender.Disable Windows Defender in Windows 10
  4. On the right-side panel, double-click on Turn of Windows Defender policy setting.
  5. In the policy property window that shows up, select Enabled and then click OK to save the settings.Disable Windows Defender in Windows 10
  6. That’s it. Now you can restart Windows so that any running Windows Defender modules can be removed from system memory.

Choosing an anti-virus product for your PC is like shopping for a comfortable pair of shoes for yourself. One type and size of shoes do not fit all. Similarly, you should find an anti-virus product that fits your requirements and that makes you feel comfortable and at ease. If you decide to go with a non-Microsoft product, you can safely disable Windows Defender using the group policies.

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