Verify Your Default Antivirus
Turn Off Norton Protection On Mac
Open your Norton device security product.
If you see the My Norton window, next to Device Security, click Open.
In the Norton product main window, click Advanced or Settings.
On the left pane, click Protect My Mac.
In the Automatic Scans row, move the switch to off.
On the left pane, click Firewall.
In the Connection Blocking row, move the switch to off.
In the Vulnerability Protection row, move the switch to off.
You can use the Fix Now option in the main window to turn on protection.
How To Disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus From Windows Security
You don’t need to disable the antivirus permanently when making system changes. You can always disable the protection temporarily.
To temporarily disable the real-time antivirus protection on Windows 11, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the real-time antivirus protection will temporarily be disabled on the computer to install other apps or make system changes without conflicts.
You can always use the same instructions outlined above to re-enable the antivirus, but on step 5, turn on the Real-time protection toggle switch.
This option is not a permanent solution, but it’s the best option to disable the antivirus to install programs and make system changes that otherwise will cause conflicts.
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Turn Off Defender Antivirus Protection On Windows 11 And 10
In some cases, you may need to suspend Microsoft Defender Antivirus protection without affecting important system services. For example, when Microsoft Defender prevents a system program or tool from running or installing. To run such an app, you have to stop Windows Defender Real-time Protection.
To resume Windows Defender protection, move the toggle to On. Also, Microsoft Defender Real-time Protection is enabled automatically after you restart the computer.
You can use the following PowerShell command to disable real-time protection :
Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $true
However, this command doesnt work as expected in Windows 11 and the latest Windows 10 builds. The matter is that in Windows 10 1903 or later, a new Microsoft Defender feature is enabled by default: Microsoft Defender Tamper Protection.
Tamper protection
You can only disable Tamper Protection manually from Windows Security GUI. Navigate to Virus and threat protection section, scroll down and switch the Tamper Protection toggle to Off.
After disabling Tamper Protection, you will be able to disable Microsoft Defender Real-time Protection using the PowerShell command shown above.
How To Turn Off Your Antivirus Software

Melinda Sineriz, Editor| Last updated Nov 3, 2022
If you have antivirus software, there may be times you need to turn it off. Disabling the software can be done through the antivirus app, using your device or browser.
You can turn off your antivirus temporarily or permanently. Keep in mind that doing so leaves your device vulnerable to viruses, however. Here are the steps to turning off antivirus software along with the reasons why you might choose to do so.
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Time To Stop Defending Windows Defender
The free antivirus software Windows Defender, by default, is set to remain enabled even after being turned off via Virus & threat protection. To stop Windows Defender for good requires a permanent or hard deactivate. This can be done by updating the policy, modifying the registry, or disabling it using the Autoruns for Windows utility tool. Any of these three methods ensure Defender will not reactivate at will.
What antivirus program do you prefer? Have you found an alternative to Windows Defender, and if so, why do you think its better? Share your opinions in the comments section below.
What Is Windows Defender
Windows Defender now called Microsoft Defender Antivirus is Microsofts free anti-malware solution to protect against all types of malicious software, including viruses, ransomware, spyware, and more. Although its certainly not the best-performing anti-malware app available, for many users, Microsoft Defender is sufficient.
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How To Disable Microsoft Defender In Windows 11
Microsoft Defender is an essential security tool preinstalled on the Windows 11 operating system. The security suite is fully baked into the operating system to protect your system from malware, but not everyone likes it. Would you prefer to install an alternative antivirus/antispyware to kick Microsoft Defender to the curb? We have two options: temporarily disable the real-time scanning component of the security suite or disable the entire suite long-term in favor of a competing app.
Prerequisites For Antivirus Policy
Support for Microsoft Intune enrolled devices:
- Any supported version of macOS
- For Intune to manage antivirus settings on a device, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint must be installed on that device. See. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for macOS
Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server
Support for Configuration Manager clients:
This scenario is in preview and requires use of Configuration Manager current branch version 2006 or later.
-
Set up tenant attach for Configuration Manager devices – To support deploying antivirus policy to devices managed by Configuration Manager, configure tenant attach. Set up of tenant attach includes configuring Configuration Manager device collections to support endpoint security policies from Intune.
To set up tenant attach, see Configure tenant attach to support endpoint protection policies.
Support for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint clients:
-
Set up Defender for Endpoint Security Configuration Management – To support deploying antivirus policy to devices communicating with Endpoint Manager via Defender for Endpoint, configure Security Management for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
Tamper protection is available for devices that are running one of the following versions of Windows:
- Windows 10 and 11
- Windows Server version 1803 or later, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022
- Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016
Note
Intune managed devices
Note
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Why Turn Off Microsoft Defender
For a free anti-malware app, Microsoft Defender works pretty well. However, there are several reasons why you may want to disable it.If youre looking to install a third-party antivirus app, Microsoft Defender may not be able to coexist with it and will need to be disabled. Or you may have run into an issue where Microsoft Defender is blocking the installation of a legitimate, safe app because it believes it is malicious so you need to temporarily disable it it certainly wouldnt be the first time someone has had this problem. Or maybe you just dont like Microsoft Defender and you want it gone from your PC. Whatever the reason, keep on reading to learn how to disable Microsoft Defender either temporarily or permanently!
Option Iii: Disable Norton Security
If you have the Norton Security Antivirus program installed on your system, follow these steps to disable it:
1. Right-click on the Antivirus Program icon from the system tray and select Disable Auto-Protect as shown.
2. From Select the duration dropdown menu, choose a time period for which the Antivirus will remain disabled.
3. Finally, click OK on the Security Request page to disable it.
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How To Permanently Disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus On Windows 10
Yes, you can disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus on Windows 10, and here’s how.
On Windows 10, Microsoft Defender Antivirus is the anti-malware solution that protects your computer and files from unwanted viruses, ransomware, spyware, and other malware and hackers. While it is considered one of the best computer antivirus software options, you may still find situations where you may want to disable it permanently.
For example, if you don’t like the security app for personal reasons, if you have to change system settings conflicting with the antivirus, or if you have to set up a computer that won’t connect to the network and security is not a concern. Or if you are a network administrator and must comply with the organization’s policies on some specific computers.
Although Windows 10 does not include an option to uninstall Microsoft Defender Antivirus, it is possible to permanently disable the app using Group Policy or install a third-party solution. Or you can also disable the antivirus temporarily using the Windows Security app.
This guide will walk you through the different methods to permanently disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus on Windows 10.
How To Disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus In Windows 11 Permanently

In earlier Windows 10 builds and in Windows Server 2016, you could completely disable Windows Defender using the Turn off Windows Defender Antivirus GPO option located in Computer Configurations -> Administrative Template -> Windows Component -> Windows Defender Antivirus section of the Local Group Policy Editor or using the DisableAntiSpyware registry parameter under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender:
New-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender -Name DisableAntiSpyware -Value 1 -PropertyType DWORD -Force
Turn on behavior monitoringDisableBehaviorMonitoring =1.
Starting from Windows 10 1903 release, you cannot use these GPO options or registry parameters to disable Microsoft Defender, because these settings are shielded by Tamper Protection. The methods previously used to disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus dont work on Windows 11.
To completely disable Windows Defender Antivirus on Windows 11, you need to boot your computer to Safe Mode.
To do it, change the Start parameter value to 4.
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Turn Off Windows Defender In Windows 10 Permanently
How to turn off Windows Defender in Windows 10 permanently? Sometimes you want to disable Windows Defender for testing purposes. If you have an Antivirus application running, Windows Defender will be automatically disabled. Thats because your Antivirus software will take over the security from now on. This article will teach you how to turn off Windows Defender in Windows 10 temporarily and permanently.
How To Disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus Using Third
If you plan to disable the antivirus to install another anti-malware software, this process isn’t necessary since installing another security software will disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus automatically.
To disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus using third-party protection, use these steps:
- Quick note: We will be installing Bitdefender, but the instructions will be similar to any other software. Of course, it is always recommended to check the software documentation for more specific details.
After you complete the steps, Windows 10 will detect the installation and automatically disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus on the computer.
Check current security provider
To check the default antivirus has been disabled, use these steps:
Although multiple methods exist to disable the default antivirus on Windows 10, we do not recommend using a computer without anti-malware protection. However, some situations might still be where disabling the security feature could make sense.
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How To Disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus Using Group Policy
If you want to disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus permanently, you can use the Group Policy Editor. The only caveat is that you must also disable the “Tamper Protection” feature before the policy can apply.
On Windows 10, Tamper protection is a feature that protects Windows Security against unwanted changes from outside the app. Since the Local Group Policy Editor modifies the security settings from outside the app, the antivirus will restore any changes you have made during the next restart.
Disable Tamper Protection
To disable Tamper Protection, use these steps:
Once you complete the steps, the Windows antivirus will be disabled permanently, but the “shield” icon will remain in the Taskbar because the icon is part of the Windows Security app, not the antivirus program.
You can always undo the changes using the same instructions, but in step 5, select the Not Configured option. In addition to enabling the antivirus, it is also a good idea to turn on the “Tamper Protection” feature again using the same steps outlined above, but in step 5, make sure to enable the toggle switch.
How To Deactivate Avg On Android
The process to deactivate AVG AntiVirus on Android takes only a few taps on your screen and youre all set. You may want to do this when using an older version of Android, since older devices sometimes get slow, and antivirus apps can make them even slower. Whatever your reason, deactivating AVG on your Android is no problem when you follow these steps.
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Unblock Safe Apps By Temporarily Turning Off Your Norton Protection
In some cases, your Norton product may block a suspected activity on your computer that matches a security threat behavior. These activities may include download of a file, auto-sync of mobile device with your desktop computer, or Internet access to an application. You may also receive repeated notifications to restart your computer.
If you know that the activity or application that trigger these notifications are safe, you can temporarily turn off Norton protection for a specified duration.
Turning off Norton protection leaves your computer vulnerable to attacks. If you want to turn it off for troubleshooting a problem, make sure that you turn it on again.
Temporarily Disabling Other Antivirus Software
If you use third-party antivirus software on your PC, you may need to temporarily disable your antivirus protection before installing an Avast application. This is because third-party antivirus software may incorrectly flag Avast applications as malicious and block installation.
notAvast Premium SecurityAvast Free Antivirus
Follow the instructions in this article to first verify the default antivirus application on your PC, before temporarily disabling third-party antivirus protection.
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How To Turn Off Or Remove Mcafee From Windows Pc
Do you want to disable or uninstall McAfee products? This post from MiniTool Partition Wizard shows you how to turn off McAfee antivirus products like McAfee Security Center, McAfee Total Protection, McAfee LiveSafe, and McAfee WebAdvisor.
McAfee is a global computer security software company that primarily develops digital-security tools for personal computers and server devices, and more recently for mobile devices.
It has offered many antivirus products for PCs. However, some people may want to know how to turn off McAfee antivirus, especially the following software:
- McAfee Security Center
- McAfee Total Protection
Option Ii: Disable Bitdefender

In the how to disable the antivirus temporarily method, we will now see the steps to disable the BitDefender Antivirus program on Windows 10:
1. Click on Start and type BitDefender. Click on Open from the Start menu search results.
2. Click on the Protection tab on the left pane and click on Open under Antivirus.
3. Click Advanced and use the switch off the toggle to turn off BitDefender Shield as depicted.
4. Use the drop-down list to choose the time period for How long do you want to keep the protection disabled? and click on OK.
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Why Turn Off Antivirus Software
Even though antivirus can help protect your device from ransomware, spyware, and other threats, there are times it could be beneficial to turn it off.
For example, if you need to free up some disk space, you may want to turn off an antivirus program temporarily. Your antivirus software is always running in the background while scanning for anything suspicious, and that means it takes a lot of your devices resources and uses the hardware to full capacity.
Sometimes you may want to install another program, and your antivirus software may block you from doing so. You may need to disable it while installing the other software.
Another reason you may want to turn off your antivirus software is that it may detect false positives, which can get frustrating if youre in the middle of a big project and your antivirus program keeps flagging a file for quarantine.
You also may have some privacy concerns. Antivirus software helps keep your device secure, but it is not designed for privacy. When you use antivirus software, you allow that program complete access to all your files and web browsing.
It should be a rare occurrence that you turn off your antivirus. The best antivirus software helps protect your device from getting hit with malware. When you turn it off, that disables the software and leaves your device vulnerable to hackers.