An antivirus is a software that helps you protect your computer from viruses, malware, and other vulnerabilities. However, sometimes you might want to temporarily disable the antivirus to fix a few things up on your Windows machine.
So how do you deactivate or completely turn off the antivirus on your Windows PC? In this post, we’ll be discussing the common reasons for disabling the antivirus program on Windows and the best possible ways to do the same.
Let’s start.
Why Do You Need to Disable Antivirus on Windows?
Antivirus often gives you a false alarm to delete or remove a certain software on your PC that as it feels it a malicious software. This happens because the antivirus couldn’t identify the code of a brand new software.
Related Reading: How to Turn Off Avast Temporarily in Windows 10/8/7?
In such cases, you need to disable the antivirus to stop the false alarms. Some other reasons to deactivate antivirus include:
1. Poor Detection Methods
Most of the free antiviruses do not employ all the detection methods. They rely on a conventional technique for scanning the common virus codes.
It sometimes might notify you with false alarms, if its common virus code matches a section of your standard file code. Since most of the free antiviruses come with limited features and updates, they may sometimes fail to detect the latest viruses.
2. Conflicts with Other Softwares on Your PC
If you have installed a couple of PC optimization software along with the antivirus program or you’ve installed two antivirus programs on the same machine, this may cause the conflict between the two.
The conflict between the two programs leads to poor functioning of the Windows system. This is why you’ll need to remove the additional antivirus program.
3. Poor PC Performance or Network Issues
It is one of the main reasons you might want to deactivate antivirus. Antivirus programs generally take up a lot of your computer’s memory, and the firewall settings may also impede the network services.
So, these were some of the most common reasons to disable the antivirus on Windows PC.
How to Turn Off Antivirus on Windows PC?
The process of deactivating antivirus on Windows is quite simple. You can temporarily disable almost any antivirus software using this method.
1. Disable Antivirus from Windows Notification Area
Follow the steps below and quickly disable antivirus in your Windows PC:
- Locate the antivirus software icon in the Windows notification area (lower right corner of the desktop) on the taskbar
- Now, right-click on the antivirus and select the disable option or any similar option including Stop, exit, etc.
At times, you may have to open the software and disable it from the menu list
You have successfully disabled any third-party antivirus software on your Windows PC.
2. Disable by Starting in Safe Mode
If the above method doesn’t work for you, proceed with this one. Start your PC into Safe Mode, as it doesn’t load any additional programs including antivirus.
Now you can access your PC in safe mode, as the antivirus will no longer be working in the safe mode. This method temporarily helps when any antivirus is delaying an installation process which is bothering you.
How to Turn off Windows Defender in Windows 10?
Windows Defender application acts as a premium antivirus software for all the Windows 10 users. It protects and defends your PC against any potentially unwanted malware.
However, it may interfere with the system files or other software and you might want to turn off Windows Defender. Let’s see how to do so:
As the Microsoft Defender is installed in Windows 10 version by default, disabling this security application is special case users ask about often. Here we are with two simple solutions:
1. Disable Windows Defender Temporarily
This method becomes handy when you want to disable your windows security application temporarily, enabling you to activate it again later. Follow the step to do so:
- Go to the Start button and open Settings
- Select Update & Security
- Choose “ Windows Security ” (to the left pane)
- And, select “Open Windows Defender Security Center.”
- Now, open the Windows Defender’s settings , hit on the “Virus & Threat Protection Settings “icon
- Click and toggle on the ‘Real-time Protection,’ ‘Cloud-Delivered Protection’ and the ‘Automatic sample Submissions’ buttons to turn off the Windows Defender application
You have now successfully disabled Windows defender temporarily. You can switch on the Windows defender by simply clicking on the three buttons mentioned above.
2. Disable the Windows Defender by using Group Policy
You can disable the Windows Defender by just typing a command in the run dialog box. Here’s how:
- Press and hold Windows + R keys to open run dialog and type “ gpedit.msc” and press Enter
- Hit on Computer Configuration and Administrative Templates option
- Click and open the “Windows Components ” and double-click on “Windows Defender Antivirus.”
- Once again, double-click on “Turn off Windows Defender Antivirus.”
- Select the Enable icon (to the left edge) and hit on OK to save the changes
We suggest you disable Windows Defender only if you have another strong antivirus which you think can function much better.
That’s it. You can now switch, disable or even turn off antivirus temporarily on your Windows 10 PC with the above quick and easy steps.
Let us know if you have any suggestions or queries related to this article in the comments section below.