Some of us prefer to disable Windows Defender.

While in the past there were quite easy ways to disable Windows defender, Microsoft has made it impossible to disable Defender by a registry entry (via regedit) or a group policy (via gpedit.msc).

From the Win 10 2004 function upgrade on Microsoft made both ways inaccesible. Instead it is only possible to disable Defender by an API call e.g. from an installed antivirus software.

For my PCs (prior 2004), if I disabled Defender by GPO the policy will stay enabled meaning Defender disabled after an update to 2004. But if I disabled Defender by registry hack, it will be re-enabled after the upgrade to 2004.
With all new installations registry/GPO ways will be inaccessible (at least it's more difficult).

There is a little but helpful freeware called "defender control" that you can download from https://www.sordum.org/
Dierect download link for v1.9: https://www.sordum.org/9480/defender-control-v1-9/

With the utility you can disable and enable Defender by a click.

 

Last edited: Jun 6, 2021

Microsoft fuckery is unbelievable, glad I went MacOS hackintosh so I don't have to deal with this bullshit anymore

 

No need to thank me
Defender Control v1.9 (sordum.org)