Microsoft Windows 10 comes with Windows Defender installed which provides security from malware and other threats. It also scans new apps and programs using Windows Defender SmartScreen whenever you try to run them. Even though this is a great feature, it can be a nuisance if you already have some other security product installed on your PC.
So if you have a good antivirus software such as ESET Internet Security, McAfee Antivirus, Avast Antivirus, Kaspersky Internet Security or Bitdefender Antivirus installed on your Windows 10 PC, then you can turn off SmartScreen without much impact on your system security. These third-party security products are really great at providing all the protection from malicious software and various other online threats. You can turn off SmartScreen in a number of ways.
Here is how you can disable Windows Defender SmartScreen on a Windows 10 PC:
- Press the hotkey Win+I to open Windows settings.
- In the settings window, type SmartScreen in the search box.
- Select App & Browser Control from the search results list.
- In the screen that appears on your screen, uncheck all the checkboxes which include Check app and files, SmartScreen for Microsoft Edge, and SmartScreen for Microsoft Store apps.
- This is it, now SmartScreen has been disabled on your Windows 10 PC.
There is another way to disable SmartScreen on your Windows 10 PC through an open-source tool called PrivateWin10. With the help of this tool, we can tweak some of the advanced settings on Windows. We can disable many features using this tool such as Cortana, Online Search, Windows Defender, SmartScreen, Advertisement, LockScreen, Personalization, Push Notifications, OneDrive, Microsoft Accounts, Microsoft App Store and more.
In order to disable SmartScreen, we can launch PrivateWin10, select Windows Defender section and then Disable SmartScreen and then turn the toggle switch ON. This will effectively disable SmartScreen on your Windows 10 PC.