Do I need to enable Windows Defender? What is built-in windows defender? How to enable, disable and configure it? Where to find test results

One of the built-in security controls in Windows 10 is Windows Defender. This highly effective tool helps protect your PC from malware and other spyware. Therefore, if you deleted it due to inexperience, you should immediately familiarize yourself with how you can re-enable the protection.

Enabling Windows Defender is quite simple; you can use either the built-in tools of the OS itself or install special utilities. Moreover, you need to be extremely careful with the latter, since many similar programs that promise effective computer security management contain malicious elements and can cause irreparable harm to your system.

Method 1: Win Updates Disabler

Win Updates Disabler is one of the fastest, most reliable and easiest ways to turn Windows Defender 10 on and off. With this program, each user will be able to complete the task of activating Windows Defender in just a few seconds, since it has a minimalistic, Russian-language interface that can be easily understood not difficult at all.

To enable Defender using this method, you must perform the following steps:

Method 2: System Settings

You can also activate Windows Defender 10 using the built-in tools of the operating system. Among them, a special place is occupied by the element "Options". Let's look at how you can perform the above task using this tool.

Method 3: Group Policy Editor

It’s worth noting right away that the Group Policy Editor is not present in all versions of Windows 10, so owners of home editions of the OS will not be able to use this method.

Method 4: Registry Editor

You can also achieve a similar result using the Registry Editor functionality. The entire process of enabling Defender in this case looks like this.

Method 5: Windows Defender Service

If, after performing the steps described above, Windows Defender still does not start, then you need to check the status of the service that is responsible for the operation of this system element. To do this you need to take the following steps:

In these ways you can enable Windows Defender 10, strengthen protection and protect your PC from malware.

Standard anti-malware protection in the innovative Windows 10 operating system is an improved contribution to the security of user data from Microsoft developers. OS Defender is responsible for executing the functionality of the PC's built-in antivirus system.

According to analytical calculations by world experts, the built-in protection of Windows 10 demonstrates fairly high performance that can compete with the most popular antiviruses. The free defender practically does not affect system resources, facilitating the work of the computer’s memory and processor.

You can enable the built-in defender as follows:

It is worth noting that the system defender constantly diagnoses the RAM for all kinds of threats. All necessary components are used to monitor the OS; the user does not need to manually make any changes.

Another option for enabling the defender:

How to turn off Windows Defender 10?

The user may need to disable the standard defender in situations where a game or program was downloaded from a trusted source, but the defender refuses to perform such an installation.

How to disable Windows 10 Defender is as follows:

• In the "Settings" section, go to the "Update and Security" tab.
• Switch the slider next to the “Real-time protection” item. This option disables protection only temporarily.

How to completely disable Windows 10 Defender using non-standard methods?

You should know that when installing any third-party antivirus program on a PC system, the defender will be turned off until it is removed. Users who intend to deactivate the OS Defender functionality permanently have two options for achieving what they want. Let's consider the first method.

This article contains information about the Windows Defender antivirus built into Windows 10 and how to configure it.

Here you can find a detailed description, ways to enable and disable this system tool, and also see the results of a comparison of Defender with third-party antivirus programs.

Use the table of contents to quickly find the question you are interested in about the Defender.

What is Windows Defender. Its capabilities

Windows Defender(English: Windows Defender) is an antivirus product from Microsoft, which was created specifically to find and eliminate malicious code on the Windows OS.Windows Defender is somewhat different from the free programs familiar to the user, which simply scan files for viruses.

It consists of a whole set of special modules that constantly monitor the state of the system and its individual components. The capabilities of this antivirus tool are as follows:

• Protection against viruses and threats, which helps detect malicious code in programs that run with the OS, as well as monitor system services and tools responsible for software registration;
• Device health support, which monitors the relevance of updates and hardware drivers. This component also helps optimize operating system startup/shutdown and memory usage, improving overall Windows performance in many tasks;
• Firewall and Network Security, which troubleshoots network problems and protects the computer from “outside” attacks;
• Application and browser management allows you to protect your device from “exploits” and other malware when using the Internet.

Exploit(English exploit - exploit) - one of the types of attacks designed to exploit vulnerabilities in programs (including system ones) available on the victim’s computer in order to replenish malicious code that is designed to infect the computer with a virus or execute arbitrary commands, as well as changes in files and system parameters without the user's knowledge. Each of the Defender functions can be configured at any time using the tool: “Windows Defender Security Center”. This section is located in parameters computer (shown in the figure below).

Figure 1. Open Windows Defender settings.
Windows Defender is initially installed in Windows 10 and begins to protect the user immediately after the computer is turned on for the first time.
However, this built-in protection has certain disadvantages and is sometimes inferior to many third-party antiviruses.

Some shortcomings in the operation of the system antivirus

Unfortunately, built into Windows defender does not fully guarantee protection against malware.

Windows Defender has a number of shortcomings, but in general, the performance of the antivirus only improves with each update. The main problems will be listed below Windows Defender that prevent you from ensuring full computer security:

• Weak protection against phishing"(one of the types of Internet fraud, the purpose of which is to obtain important user data: logins, passwords, card numbers, by creating copies of popular sites);
• Mediocre function for blocking sites containing malware. Be careful when visiting suspicious web pages.

Active Internet users will likely find this security feature insufficient. Despite this, algorithms for scanning in real time and searching for malicious code in files Windows Defender pretty good.

In the next chapter, you will be able to evaluate the performance of Microsoft software protection in comparison with third-party antiviruses.

Is Windows Defender necessary? Comparison with popular antiviruses

In this chapter, three antiviruses, including Windows Defender, will be given a very difficult task - to scan an archive with a collection of a large number of viruses. Attention!
Under no circumstances repeat the tests that you will see below to avoid infecting your system with virus programs.

The further experiment was carried out on a separate disk space in a virtual machine environment with Windows 10 installed and has little in common with the actual operating conditions of the computer.
Despite this, such a test puts antivirus software at risk. "stressful" situation and shows the level of protection performance. The test will be performed on the following antiviruses:

• Built into the system Windows Defender;
• Shareware Eset No. 32;
• Completely free Avast.

During the experiment, an archive consisting exclusively of viruses will be scanned. The number of threats found will reflect the quality of the program according to the principle: “more is better.”

Let's get started.

Antivirus testing process: Windows Defender, NOD 32, Avast

For greater objectivity, all antivirus programs were updated manually.

It should also be mentioned that all protection means work separately from each other.

The test was carried out 03.11.2017 , and in the figure below you can see information about the relevance of updates for each of the antiviruses (respectively, Windows Defender, Eset No. 32 And Avast).

Figure 2. We update the databases of all antiviruses.
Now let's start checking the archive using its context menu, called with the right mouse button, and select forced scanning a file for viruses.
Each program was scanned 3798 identical elements that are malicious.

Number of threats found:

• Windows Defender discovered 3674 virus;
• Eset No. 32 discovered 3622 virus;
• Avast discovered 3352 virus.

Figure 3. We look at the number of threats found.
Of course, this testing is not a real indicator of the level of protection of your computer. Third-party antiviruses, for example, are much better at blocking suspicious sites, preventing threats from outside.

In the next chapter, you can learn how to disable Windows Defender if you need to install another security program.

Disable Windows Defender temporarily (until reboot)

Attention!
The information in this chapter is only suitable for users whose computer not installed no third party security software.

Installing any antivirus automatically disables it defender, so no additional actions are required in this case.

You can temporarily disable the system antivirus in the Windows Defender Security Center window.

To do this you need:

1. Click on menu "Start" right click → open "Options" ;
2. Enter your request: "defender" in the search bar of the window that opens → select the item ;
3. Next in the tab Protection against viruses and threats(icon with a shield) you need to click on "Protection settings against viruses and other threats" ;

Now in the window that appears, you can disable any of the security features.

Figure 4. Configuring real-time protection.
Anti-virus protection will be automatically restored after a reboot to ensure your computer's security.
If you need finally disable Windows Defender - read the instructions below.

Completely disabling Windows Defender

Be careful!
It is recommended to completely disable System Security Center only after installing third-party antivirus software.
Otherwise, the security of your computer will be compromised. You can permanently disable the built-in system protection using registry editor(regedit).
To do this, you need to perform the following steps in order:

1. Open menu "Search" (second icon in the lower left corner) → enter the request in the appropriate line: "regedit" → launch the found program with the left mouse button;

Figure 5. Launching the registry editor.

1. In the window that opens, using the navigation on the left side of the screen, go to the section: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender" ;
2. Create "Dword parameter (32 bits)" With name DisableAntiSpyware(if missing). This can be done by right-clicking on the free space on the right side and selecting the appropriate item;
3. Open the parameter that appears by quickly double-clicking the mouse → change "Meaning": 0 on 1 → save settings using "OK".

Figure 6. Editing the value of the DisableAntiSpyware parameter.
Ready. Now you need to close the Registry Editor and restart your computer. If necessary, the defender's work can be restored. To do this, you simply need to change the value you just created back to «0» .

Removing an icon from the system tray (notification area)

A file called .is responsible for displaying the system antivirus icon.
This program can be disabled in the settings startup without any consequences.

Run Task Manager(using the combination Ctrl + Alt + Delete) and do the following:

;
1. Click on the line "Windows Defender notification icon" right click → select action "Disable" .

Figure 7. Disable process startup with OS startup.
Ready!
The changes will take effect after you restart your computer.

Icon Windows Defender will not appear in the notification area until you enable the corresponding program back into OS startup.

Enable and configure Windows Defender

Default, Windows Defender configured for maximum system protection. However, sometimes when you try to run this antivirus program, you may see a message about the application being disabled local group policy. Any defender settings are also inactive, although third-party antiviruses are not installed on the computer. There are two ways to solve this problem:

• Editing Local Group Policy (Windows 10 Professional only).
• Editing the Registry followed by changing the system security service startup value;

If your computer has Windows 10 Home installed, skip straight to the chapter: .

Enabling Windows Defender by editing local group policy

note. This method only works on professional versions of the system (Professional), since local group policy is simply absent in Windows 10 Home. To run Windows Defender, you need to:

1. Open menu "Search" (next to the Start icon) → enter the request: "gpedit.msc" → launch the corresponding program by clicking the left mouse button;
2. In the Local Group Policy window that opens, go to the section "Windows Components\Endpoint Protection"(or "Windows Defender Antivirus")
3. Find parameter "Turn off Endpoint Protection" and watch it state(if you see the value “Enabled”, double-click on the corresponding line with the left mouse button);
4. Set value "Disabled" → "OK" .

Figure 8. Enable “Endpoint Protection”.
In most cases the problem will be resolved and you will be able to start the service Windows Defender manually.

Enabling Windows Defender via Registry Editor

The method of enabling system protection through the registry editor is the opposite of the method of disabling it.
Check out the subtitle: "Disable Windows Defender completely", follow all steps according to the instructions.

You just need to change the value "1" on «0» and restart your computer.
Next, you can easily enable Windows Defender using the appropriate option in parameters OS.

Configure exceptions in Windows Defender

If you are confident in the safety of files in which the system antivirus for some reason sees a threat, add them to Windows Defender exceptions.

You can exclude not only a separate folder or file, but also:

• Any running process;
• A separate file type with a selected extension (.exe, .msi, etc.).

To add any of these exceptions, you need:

1. Open "Windows Defender Security Center" , which is in the system search;
2. Click on the item "Protection against viruses and threats" ;
3. Find and select "Adding and Removing Exceptions" ;
4. Click on the button with the sign «+» → add the exception you are interested in.

Figure 9. Adding the necessary exceptions.
Ready.
Windows Defender will now ignore the file, folder, extension, or process you specified. Note!
The exclusion applies to all subfolders located in the directory that was removed from the scanning algorithm.

What to do if Windows Defender won't turn on

Sometimes Defender does not start even in the absence of third-party antiviruses. The detailed solution to this problem is listed in the following subheadings:
Carefully reading these instructions will help you get rid of many problems with this software.

A simple method to resolve error 577

This error mainly occurs after uninstalling third-party antivirus software.

If you encounter error 577, follow these steps:

1. Restart your computer if you did not do so after uninstalling the antivirus;
2. Open "Search" (next to the Start menu) → enter the query without quotes: "wscui.cpl"→ press the key "Enter" on keyboard;
3. In the window that appears, expand "Security" → run "Virus protection" using the button "Turn on" .

Ready.

Good afternoon

I completely agree with you, Windows Defender completely replaces a paid antivirus without slowing down your computer. Finally, Microsoft made something that works and is convenient.

Windows Defender may be turned off for 2 reasons:

1. You are using a work computer, and your system administrator has turned off the defender, for example, to use another antivirus.

2. You installed low-quality software that turned off the defender. Usually all sorts of dubious antiviruses and “security programs” do this. They are not made for your protection and, to some extent, are viruses themselves, which is why they disable the defender. But this is a topic for a separate article.

Whatever happens, turning on Windows Defender is not difficult; more on that below.

How to enable Windows Defender:

To enable Windows Defender we will use the registry. This is the easiest method that works on all editions of Windows.

1. Press the Win and R keys at the same time (read more about the Win key in our article: ), enter “regedit” in the window that appears and press Enter:

2. Navigate through the directory tree on the left: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Policies -> Microsoft -> Windows Defender:

Go through the subsections of the "Windows Defender" folder on the left, looking on the right for any options starting with "Disable". If you find any, click on them and set the value to “0”.

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3. Restart your computer and try to re-enable Windows Defender: Press the Win S buttons, write “Windows Defender” in the search bar and select the application from the list.

Most likely it will start and work normally. If not, additional steps below.

4. Press the Win R keys, write “services.msc” in the line and press Enter. Find "Windows Defender Service" in the list and start the service if it is disabled:

If you have any questions or need clarification, please, or leave a comment.

Hello, friends! While I was writing about Microsoft Security Essentials, I came across Windows Defender 7. I realized that I didn’t know anything about it and decided to write an article to make it a little clearer for myself why Windows Defender 7 is needed and when it is advisable to use it.

The main window of Windows Defender 7 is shown in the figure below.

If Windows Defender does not start, you may need to manually start the service of the same name. Also, by searching in the Start menu, launch the “Services” utility.

Finding a service Windows Defender and double click on it. In chapter Startup type select from the drop-down menu Automatic (delayed start) and press the button " Launch»

After this, we should launch Windows Defender without any problems. If the service, for some reason, failed to start, then I would check the computer for viruses with two different utilities (for example, Dr.Web Cureit and Kaspersky). Then I would check for Trojans using MBAM. I rebooted and tried to start the service. If the result is negative, then perform system file recovery. If the result is still negative, then I would think about reinstalling the operating system.

Hopefully, getting Windows Defender up and running will be easier.

How to disable Windows Defender

Everything seems to be clear with excluded files, folders and file types. If the defender mistakenly reacts to a file that is known to be safe, then you can add it to the exceptions.

On the tab in detail, Just like in Microsoft Security Essentials, I check the box to scan USB devices so that the defender scans connected flash drives, external hard drives and other storage devices.

In chapter Administrator You can turn off the defender completely and allow the log to be shown to all users. If you have multiple users using your computer, you can allow them to see what Windows Defender 7 has detected.

Everything is done with the settings.

Windows 7 Defender Update

If you want, for example, to conduct a full scan of your computer, then it is advisable to check for updates before doing so. You can do this by clicking on Down arrow next to the help icon and selecting Check for updates

Magazine

In chapter Magazine you can view what the defender did with the detected objects.

Microsoft SpyNet

In the Journal section you can join the Microsoft SpyNet community. That is, if unknown spyware is running on your computer and you are connected to Microsoft SpyNet, then the information from your computer will be sent to Microsoft. There they will be processed and the “Antidote” will be found. This “antidote” with new definitions will then be downloaded into Windows 7 Defender on all computers in the world and this spyware will be neutralized.

You can join as ordinary participant or in the role experienced participant. In the second case, more data will be transferred from your computer and, as I understand it, the efficiency of finding an antidote will become higher.

You can also join the Microsoft SpyNet community in the “Programs” section

I have chosen to join as an experienced member or as an advanced member.

It is advisable to update before performing the scan. To perform a Quick check, just press the button Check. If the computer begins to work unstably, then it is advisable to conduct a Full scan. You can launch it by opening the menu to the right of the Check button.

Custom scan Used to scan individual folders or external devices. Click Choose to select individual drives or directories (folders) and then Check now

Everything about settings and use.

How to enable Defender in Windows 7 through the registry

Valentina shared this method in the comments to this article. Thank you, Valentina.

1. Go to the registry branch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender to the DisableAntiSpyware key, and change the value (1) to (0).
2. We restart the computer and rejoice, Windows Defender is working.

Conclusion

In this article, we figured out what Windows 7 Defender is. It is not a full-fledged antivirus solution, but only protection against spyware and other potentially dangerous software. That is, protection from Trojans. I will use it on very old computers (for example, on my grandfather’s laptop), since the defender requires less resources than a full-fledged antivirus. My grandfather only communicates on Skype and looks at photos. That is, the likelihood of infection is minimal. I would be glad if you share your opinion on using Windows Defender. By the way, in Windows 8, the developers abandoned Microsoft Security Essentials and transferred all its functionality to Windows Defender 8, which also comes with the operating system. I wonder what will happen in Windows 10?