[SOLVED] Having trouble disabling Windows Defender. Trying to turn it off doesn't do anything.

drzoidberg12391

Honorable
Nov 9, 2015
23
1
10,515
Greetings,

I've been trying to disable Windows Defender but haven't been having any luck. When I go into the firewall settings, I am unable to turn off Real-Life Protection, or any other option on this page. All the options just instantly snap back to the On position as soon as you click on them:

tvDSg0B.png



The main page showing my Firewall settings is shown below:

I63Ttb0.png



As noted, when I try to click "Use recommended settings" or click on any of those options on the side, nothing happens. Note what this page should normally look like on my other system:

cN5PxAK.png



What I've Tried:

1 Windows. PowerShell
I was looking up this issue online, and some people had luck using Windows PowerShell to disable Windows Defender by using the following command:

Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring $true


Here is a screenshot with error message of me trying this:

1ivXaut.jpg



2. Group Policy Editor
I was referred to trying the group policy editor by opening Run and typing "gpedit" to change some settings around. I soon found out that this option does not work for Windows 10 Home, which is the edition I have.

3. Malwarebytes Scan
I thought maybe I could have a virus preventing me from tinkering around with any of the Windows Defender options, so I ran a full scan and removed 63 random threats. The problem still persists.

4. Adding an exclusion to Windows Defender
I've also tried adding an exclusion to allow the file I'm trying to download to not be instantly deleted, but I receive a warning that the file I'm trying to add to the exclusion list may contain a virus, so it won't let me do that.


Any thoughts on my situation? I don't want to have to do a full reinstall on Windows 10 if I don't have to.


Thanks,
Matt
 
Solution
The only way to stop it is to replace it. Bitdefender replaced it.

You can't run without a firewall, windows just won't let you.

defender isn't that bad, Bitdefender can eat my CPU as well, if I run a full scan of my SSD, I just don't need to do that often... and can set when it happens, unlike Defender.

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
The only way to stop it is to replace it. Bitdefender replaced it.

You can't run without a firewall, windows just won't let you.

defender isn't that bad, Bitdefender can eat my CPU as well, if I run a full scan of my SSD, I just don't need to do that often... and can set when it happens, unlike Defender.
 
Solution

drzoidberg12391

Honorable
Nov 9, 2015
23
1
10,515
The only way to stop it is to replace it. Bitdefender replaced it.

You can't run without a firewall, windows just won't let you.

defender isn't that bad, Bitdefender can eat my CPU as well, if I run a full scan of my SSD, I just don't need to do that often... and can set when it happens, unlike Defender.
Thanks to you and the other user who recommended this. It fixed my issue, and I was able to turn it on and off / add exclusions as needed. The free version of Bitdefender seems more than capable for my needs.
 

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