Windows 10 to Prevent Users from Disabling Windows Defender Antivirus
Windows Defender or Microsoft Defender is an antivirus program officially developed by Microsoft. It comes built-in or preinstalled with Windows operating system and works as default security program. If the user installs a 3rd party antivirus software in his computer system, Windows Defender automatically turns itself off to allow the other antivirus program running.
Windows Vista and later operating systems such as Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10 come with a bundled group policy and registry tweak to manually disable Windows Defender antivirus program in Windows. Interested users can deactivate and disable Windows Defender antivirus permanently using these group policy or registry trick.
We posted about the method in following article:
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[Windows Tip] How to Disable Windows Defender Permanently
Unfortunately the method was being misused by several virus and malware programs which were disabling Windows Defender program using the same registry key i.e. DisableAntiSpyware.
Now Microsoft has decided to remove the registry key completely which means users will be unable to apply the registry key to disable Windows Defender antivirus.
Here is Microsoft’s official announcement:
DisableAntiSpyware is intended to be used by OEMs and IT Pros to disable Microsoft Defender Antivirus and deploy another antivirus product during deployment. This is a legacy setting that is no longer necessary as Microsoft Defender antivirus automatically turns itself off when it detects another antivirus program. This setting is not intended for consumer devices, and we’ve decided to remove this registry key. This change is included with Microsoft Defender Antimalware platform versions 4.18.2007.8 and higher KB 4052623. Enterprise E3 and E5 editions will be released at a future date. Note that this setting is protected by tamper protection. Tamper protection is available in all Home and Pro editions of Windows 10 version 1903 and higher and is enabled by default. The impact of the DisableAntiSpyware removal is limited to Windows 10 versions prior to 1903 using Microsoft Defender Antivirus. This change does not impact third party antivirus connections to the Windows Security app. Those will still work as expected.
So here are the key points:
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- DisableAntiSpyware registry key will no longer work to disable Windows Defender antivirus program.
- The change will apply to Microsoft Defender Antimalware platform versions 4.18.2007.8 and higher (KB4052623).
- The change will apply to Windows 10 version 1903 and higher.
- This restriction is protected by Tamper protection feature of Windows Defender. If you turn off Tamper protection, you might be able to use DisableAntiSpyware registry key.
- Windows Defender will still disable itself as soon as a 3rd party antivirus program is installed in user’s device.
It’s a wise decision by Microsoft. If the user installs his favorite 3rd party antivirus, Windows Defender will automatically disable itself and if the user doesn’t install any antivirus, Windows Defender will keep protecting the system.
Also Check:
[Windows 10 Tip] Remove “Windows Defender Security Center” Icon from Taskbar Notification Area
Windows Defender or Microsoft Defender is not a complete protection.
It’s a wise decision. Very agree.
Built in security software is not completely trusted, my according 3rd party antivirus software is necessary choice for everyone because 3rd party antivirus software is specially designed to protect device from everywhere no matter you are using Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux or other OS.
Even more of a reason to go back to macOS or an earlier version of Windows. Microsoft is full of pure s**t. I’ve successfully gone 1.5 decades without the need for antivirus!!!!
I can still disable defender and I’m on 21h2 in Windows 10. It is more difficult but it’s still possible.