How to Turn Off Windows Defender in Windows 10

Disabling Windows Defender

1. Open Start

   . Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen. The Start menu will pop up.

2. 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. 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. 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. Select New. It's near the top of the drop-down menu. Selecting it prompts a pop-out menu.

6. 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. Enter "DisableAntiSpyware" as the file name. When the DWORD file appears, type in DisableAntiSpyware and then press ↵ Enter.^[2]

8. Open the "DisableAntiSpyware" DWORD file. Double-click it to do so. A pop-up window will open.

9. Replace the "Value data" number with 1. This essentially turns on the DWORD value.

10. Click OK. It's at the bottom of the window.

11. Restart your computer. Click Start

    , click Power

    , and click Restart in the pop-up menu. When your computer finishes restarting, Windows Defender will be disabled.

12. 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.