Thanks SO much..really appreciate all your help. I'll have a thorough look at all this later when I get home from work. Cheers!

 

I'm now living without Defender – should I ever get infected, I've run backup software and then back up my entire C drive using an emergency disk. Yes, you read that right, I don't have any antivirus software on my PC. Enough of the Microsoft terror, and I'm not getting any updates that constantly ruin my PC.

Take your Control over Windows 11/10/8/7 updates with StopUpdates10 Version: 4.7.20
25.0424 (Date: 04/24/2025 - April 24 2025)
Windows 11 24H2 is supported! ------> https://greatis.com/stopupdates10/

GitHub - ionuttbara/windows-defender-remover:
A tool which is uses to remove Windows Defender in Windows 8.x, Windows 10 (every version) and Windows 11.
https://github.com/ionuttbara/windows-defender-remover

 

See you later, have a nice evening!

 

Thanks again!

 

R2R of course is well-trusted, and MOST things on Russian site are fine, but wise to let them sit a while and also to read comments (even Google translate gives enough clues. If there is something wrong there will be big reaction, so good for troubleshooting little issues.
If something lasts there for any length of time it's pretty sure to be safe.

It is NORMAL on WIndows 11 for R2R keygens to just NOT open if Windows Defender "Real-time Protection" is ON.
I just manually tested it to be sure, as I have 2 scripts to turn it OFF & ON while running keygens.
A while ago, Defender would give a warning, but on my setup currently there is no indication of a problem, but the keygen just does not run.

I know you have already done this, but I would suggest checking again that setting again while you run the keygens:
Real-time protection : OFF

With that setting, I am able to run R2R keygen even in my User\Downloads folder, and that is NOT an excluded folder.
(Normally they are run on an excluded DRIVE, but Defender will STILL block them (with no notification) if "Real-time" protection is ON. [edit: blocked because the keygen gets run in some appdata\temp folder, i believe, and i do not want to prevent that folder from being scanned]

I moved they keygen to my downloads folder just as an additional test.
I did not even turn Tamper Protection to OFF, but I normally do leave it off so I can run 2 scripts that turn ON and OFF "Real-time Protection".

Most suggested things are fine to try (and you may fix some unknown trouble), but Windows Defender does not cause trouble for most 'alternative' software as long as "Realtime Protection" is disabled during install.
There are some programs whose Program Files folders need to be EXCLUDED from Windows Defender ( but I can't recall which ones - not using them now).
I exclude in Defender's settings ALL my drives except my OS drive, as I only download trusted stuff to those drives and I do backups frequently.
On my Win10 setup I excluded all of Program Files, and many folders for ProgramData, AppData, etc...
But on this Win11 I have not bothered to. I HAVE excluded certain processes for potential performance reasons.
I did it on Win10 mostly in hopes of improving performance, but I did not really notice anything.

Really the only thing I worry about is the folders/processes my browser uses, and normal Windows USER Downloads folder, and for THAT reason I do not remove Defender totally.

 

Last edited: Sep 25, 2025

Check your inbox!

STL.Tones.Ignite.AmpHub.v1.9.1.2509.Incl.Patched.and.Keygen-R2R

I downloaded it, unpacked it, installed it, and registered it. It works without any problems.

 

Last edited: Sep 24, 2025

If you can access the group policy editor (run gpedit.msc) I'd suggest you to enable this policy
(Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus)



It will stop defender from going havoc and delete/stop stuff without any warning

 

Last edited: Sep 24, 2025

off topic:

i used to go to that russian site once in a while to download a few apps, especially when they were very large, but a few weeks ago i went there to see if i could find something, and i could not even find any software there. is their site set up to not show that in the us? or am i just not looking in the right place?

nevermind, i figured it out.

 

Last edited: Sep 24, 2025

Another suggestion is to create another user as admin and try it just in case you messed up your user profile.

 

double check the domain

 

nah, that wasn't it. i just missed the correct section to find what i was looking for.

 

Sweet Jesus!..you are a genius! It worked!!!!!!! My grateful thanks to you and Pulse Wave...you guys are stars!!.. Thanks!

 

But what is the real cause of the problem?

How to Fix “Windows cannot find gpedit.msc” Error
www.wisecleaner.com/think-tank/688-How-to-Fix-Windows-cannot-find-gpeditmsc-Error.html

Temporarily disable ASR rules via Group Policy (gpedit.msc > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus > Attack Surface Reduction > set to Disabled).


Enable attack surface reduction rules 09/12/2025

Applies to: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 and Plan 2, Microsoft Defender XDR, Microsoft Defender Antivirus

Attack surface reduction rules help prevent actions that malware often abuses to compromise devices and networks. This article describes how to enable and configure attack surface reduction rules via:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-endpoint/enable-attack-surface-reduction

 

Last edited: Sep 25, 2025

The real cause of the issue is that most R2R keygens use the \Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Temp path (which you can whitelist if you actually know what you're doing). The solutions you're suggesting are a bit too aggressive for a simple I can't run a keygen scenario... temporarily disabling real-time protection is more than enough.

 

Last edited: Sep 26, 2025 at 10:54 AM

I had found that path as well, which is why i would NOT white-list it.
I am sure R2R are not the only people who run their stuff in that location and, as someone who also browses the internet and likes game mods, etc, I would not want to leave it unmonitored.

I download stuff from Az to an excluded drive, and I have excluded all my other drives and many folders on my OS drive, but those temp ones and browser folders I do NOT exclude. Those are the only likely risk.
--------------------------------
For those wanting to turn on and off Defender with two shortcuts, these commands are working on my Win11 (for now).
I made .bat files as that's what I am familiar with, and copied some icons for "ON-OFF" shortcuts, and one for a "security" folder.
=================================================
Defender OFF:
PowerShell Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defender ON:
PowerShell Set-MpPreference -DisableRealtimeMonitoring 0
=================================================

Anyone who wants my folder (just note about making your own shortcuts):
https://rg.to/file/77ce2240ab0ff5718c5980084c93dc63/Defender_Toggle.zip.html

 

Last edited: Sep 26, 2025 at 7:06 AM

Yep you're totally right, I've spit out a bad advice... I always forget to mention that I whitelist'd it because i tend to run keygens and patchers in a VM when possible... My bad, I've corrected the post... Anyway thanks for the little "switch"!