The Difficulty to Remove Windows Defender and the Potentional Risks

Marcus Vinicus said:

This PowerShell script tells whether or not antivirus software on the target computer is enabled or disabled. This is useful if the computer has a 3rd party AV software installed and importantly what is the state of Windows Defender. It converts the productstate number to hex and deciphers if the AV software is enabled or disabled (the 3rd digit in HexProductState).

Code:

Get-CimInstance -Namespace root/SecurityCenter2 -ClassName AntiVirusProduct | ForEach-Object {
  $state = '{0:X6}' -f $_.productState
  [PSCustomObject]@{
    Name = $_.displayName
    HexProductState = $state
    Enabled = switch ($state[2]) {
      '0' { 'Disabled' }
      '1' { 'Enabled' }
      default { 'Unknown' }
    }
  }
}

Here is the result of running this script on my desktop PC which runs Bitdefender Total Security and shows Defender is disabled. Note the Bitdefender setup disabled Defender without any action from myself.

View attachment 141385

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Marcus Vinicus said:

There is a setting to disable periodic scanning by Defender if a 3rd party AV scanner is installed. This screenshot is from 24H2 Beta.

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Spunk said:

Windows Security suite, including Windows Defender is a part of Windows and it is free. Trying to remove any part Windows Security can make your system unstable.
If you install any other 3rd party Anti-Virus software, it will disable Windows Security/Defender as you can only have one active AV software on your computer. Defender takes very little space and resources on your computer. Unless you are planning on not running ANY Anti-Virus app, which is never suggested, there is no reason to remove Defender.
Windows Security/Defender works just as well if not better than most AV products free or otherwise.

Why would you want to remove Defender?

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PvtJohnTowle said:

I have been attempting to completely remove Windows Defender from my system (it's OEM Windows 11) however it's not possible without a great deal of tinkering going into safe mode with registry editing. I have tried gpedit.msc , the only only thing I have managed is to disable Real time proctection but its still running. There is tamper protection enabled but the the toggle is not visible in my settings under Windows Security. this needs to be turned off before removing WIndows Defender and they seem to co-exist, you can't have one without the other. Is there any downside to having Windows Defender remain on my system with real time scanning off? If Tamper Protection is turned off, this leaves me more vulnerable to attacks? I have recently upgraded my PC to a Ryzen 7 9800X3D (see my full specs on this forum) and I going to be gaming with Battlefield 6 which is due for release Oct ober 10th. My AV is Kaspersky Plus

AntivirusEnabled True
RealTimeProtectionEnabled False
AMServiceEnabled True


PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> if ((Get-MpComputerStatus).AntivirusEnabled -and (Get-MpComputerStatus).RealTimeProtectionEnabled) {
>> "Microsoft Defender is ENABLED and actively protecting you."
>> } elseif ((Get-MpComputerStatus).AntivirusEnabled -and -not (Get-MpComputerStatus).RealTimeProtectionEnabled) {
>> "Microsoft Defender is RUNNING but Real-Time Protection is DISABLED."
>> } else {
>> "Microsoft Defender is DISABLED."
>> }
Microsoft Defender is RUNNING but Real-Time Protection is DISABLED.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>

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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.

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

github.com

Vsynced said:

I just watched a video where someone installed Linux for gaming. No bloat or Windows Defender holding the system back. The gain/loss in FPS varied by game and was ultimately insignificant.

The "windows bloat" and "defender slowdown" arguments are overblown rubbish as far as I'm concerned.

Personally, I would leave well enough alone. Install your AV of choice and game on.

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raptorex said:

you cant play most of games on linux

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PvtJohnTowle said:

I haven't removed it I was asking if their is a potential downside to removing it completely. Also I still nobody has answered that having WIndows Defender "running" but not real time scanning has any impact on my gaming

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PvtJohnTowle said:

I was advised to "disable defender" by FR33THY he is well-known Windows tweaker that has many gamers on his books

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Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out.

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"Use the option to remove defender"
Maybe use the playbook straight after a w11 pro install

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raptorex said:

Completely removing WDefender causes some issues. There is a guy who makes a tool that removes it completely but it has some issues back then but the safest way is to disable all the defender processes. Simply installing 3rd party AV does not disable win defender at all even if it says it's disabled. Make sure those processes are disabled. Check out the pic. Those are the processes needed to be disabled.
And sometimes there is another process called "MDCoreSvc" which I dont have rn now in the picture . if u have it, disable that as well ( I believe if you install malwarebyte, it's created somehow maybe not)
Finally, Dont touch firewall related services(mpsdrv,mpssvc) cuz it will break winstore. And you must do it in safe mode.

This is the link to win remover

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.

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

github.com

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mxlexmark2 said:

I am using DefenderRemover as first script after installing Win11 Pro to more than 15 PCs and have any problems yet with other AV. System response is rapidly quickly and memory usage has dropped dramatically

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Marcus Vinicus said:

This thread isn't about games on Linux.......

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raptorex said:

lol installing 3rd party AV does not disable Defender at all. this is not how it used to be. Even if it says defender is disabled, the processes are most likey running in the background. U gotta manually disable them.

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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\Provider\Av

PvtJohnTowle said:

This script removes/disables following security components:

Tamper Protection (for Windows 11 21H2 or earlier)

not going to work for me as I am on 24H2 , you cannot remove Windows Defender without disabling tamper protection. I do not see this setting as it is hidden. But thanks for your advice in any case

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Completely Disabling Microsoft Defender via Registry and Safe Mode​

PvtJohnTowle said:

I was advised to "disable defender" by FR33THY he is well-known Windows tweaker that has many gamers on his books

Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games

Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out.

discord.com

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