Like its predecessor, the latest Windows 10 also ships with the Windows Defender program. Windows Defender is designed to help protect your PC from viruses, malware, and other threats. While it might not offer all the features available in third-party antivirus software like Avast Free for Windows 10, it’s adequate for most home users.

That said, you might want to protect your Windows 10 PC better using better third-party antivirus software. Since installing two or more antivirus on the same PC is not recommended, it’s a good idea to disable Microsoft’s Windows Defender before installing third-party antivirus software. Indeed, most antivirus software will automatically disable Windows Defender during the installation, some antivirus programs ask the user to turn off or disable Windows Defender in Windows 10 manually.

In the previous Windows version, turning off or disabling Windows Defender was easy. There was an option under Windows Defender Settings to turn on or off the defender. In Windows 10, Microsoft has moved Windows Defender settings to the Settings app.

Completely disable Windows Defender in Windows 10

While there is an option to turn off real-time protection of Windows Defender, there is no option to turn off Windows Defender completely. If Windows 10 finds that real-time protection is turned off for a while, real-time protection will be turned on automatically.

To disable Windows Defender permanently in Windows 10, we need to manually disable Windows Defender service and stop the same from starting automatically. As most users don’t prefer manually changing default settings of services, here is a small tool designed to enable you to turn off or disable Windows Defender in Windows 10 completely.

Use Defender Control to disable Windows Defender

Step 1: Get the latest version of Defender Control from this official page (download button provided towards the end of the page). Unzip the zip file and then run the Defender Control.

Step 2: Once the Defender Control is launched, click on the Disable Windows Defender button to disable the Windows Defender in Windows 10.

Once its job is done, the program will display “Windows Defender is turned off” message.

To enable the Windows Defender again, launch Defender Control, and then click the Enable Windows Defender button.

If the Defender Control fails to disable the Windows Defender, it’s likely because the Tamper Protection is turned on in Windows Defender. To turn it off, open the Windows Security app, switch to Virus & threat protection tab. In the Virus & threat protection section, click on the Manage settings link. Finally, turn off the tamper protection toggle switch.

Use NoDefender to disable Windows Defender permanently in Windows 10

UPDATE: This tool might not work with the latest version of Windows 10.

NoDefender is a free tool designed to disable Windows Defender permanently in Windows 10. To turn off, Windows Defender in Windows 10 using NoDefender, you need to complete the directions given below.

Step 1: Download NoDefender software. Extract the NoDefender zip file to get NoDefender application.

Step 2: Double-click on NoDefender.exe file to launch it. Click the Next button.

Step 3: On Step 1 page, click the button labeled Open Windows Defender Settings to open the native Settings app with Defender settings.

Step 4: Here, turn off the following three options:

Real-time protection

Cloud-based protection

Sample submission

Step 5: Now, go to the next Step in NoDefender utility to see Disable Windows Defender button.

Click Disable Windows Defender button to disable Windows Defender permanently in Windows 10. Once Windows Defender is disabled, you’ll see the Next button. Click Next and then exit NoDefender.

Step 6: When you try to open Windows Defender, you’ll now get “This app has been turned off and isn’t monitoring your computer.” message.

NOTE: The NoDefender utility doesn’t include an option to enable Windows Defender again. So we suggest you create a manual system restore point before disabling the Defender if you want to easily enable Windows Defender again in future.