How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10

Disabling Windows Defender

1. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 12
   Open Start

   How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 13

   . Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen. The Start menu will pop up.
2. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 14
   Open Registry Editor. The Registry Editor program allows you to make changes to your computer's core features. To open it, do the following:

   1. Type in regedit.
   2. Click the blue regedit icon at the top of the Start menu.
   3. Click Yes when prompted.
3. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 15
   Go to the Windows Defender folder's location. You'll do this by expanding each of the necessary folders in the left-hand section of Registry Editor as follows:

   1. Expand the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" folder by double-clicking it (skip this step if the folder is already expanded).
   2. Expand the "SOFTWARE" folder.
   3. Scroll down and expand the "Policies" folder.
   4. Expand the "Microsoft" folder.
   5. Click once the "Windows Defender" folder.
4. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 16
   Right-click the "Windows Defender" folder. You should see a drop-down menu appear.

   1. If your mouse doesn't have a right-click button, click the right side of the mouse, or use two fingers to click the mouse.
   2. If your computer uses a trackpad instead of a mouse, use two fingers to tap the trackpad or press the bottom-right side of the trackpad.
5. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 17
   Select New. It's near the top of the drop-down menu. Selecting it prompts a pop-out menu.
6. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 18
   Click DWORD (32-bit) Value. This option is in the pop-out menu. Clicking it places a blue-and-white file in the "Windows Defender" window on the right side of the page.
7. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 19
   Enter "DisableAntiSpyware" as the file name. When the DWORD file appears, type in DisableAntiSpyware and then press ↵ Enter.^[2]
8. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 20
   Open the "DisableAntiSpyware" DWORD file. Double-click it to do so. A pop-up window will open.
9. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 21
   Replace the "Value data" number with 1. This essentially turns on the DWORD value.
10. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 22
    Click OK. It's at the bottom of the window.
11. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 23
    Restart your computer. Click Start

    How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 24

    , click Power

    How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 25

    , and click Restart in the pop-up menu. When your computer finishes restarting, Windows Defender will be disabled.
12. How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10 Picture 26
    Re-enable Windows Defender when needed. If you decide that you want to re-enable Windows Defender in the future, do the following:

    1. Go back to the Windows Defender folder in Registry Editor.
    2. Click once the "Windows Defender" folder.
    3. Open the "DisableAntiSpyware" value by double-clicking it.
    4. Change the "Value data" from 1 to 0.
    5. Click OK, then restart your computer.
    6. Delete the "DisableAntiSpyware" value if you don't want it to be available later.