Home > Computer > How To Disable, Uninstall or Remove Windows Defender in Vista
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How To Disable, Uninstall or Remove Windows Defender in Vista

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer // Windows Vista

Feb
14
2008

It’s weird when Windows Defender is still in BETA, many Windows XP users eagerly wanting to install and see how great it is. Now Windows Vista has Windows Defender installed by default, many people are looking for ways to disable, uninstall or remove it from system as they prefer to use other anti spyware programs. Is Windows Defender a failure? I don’t know because I don’t use it as well since I already have Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0 on my computer.

Uninstall Windows Defender VistaIn my opinion, if you’ve downloaded and installed Windows Defender in Windows XP, you can simply uninstall it from Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel. But as for Windows Vista, it is built-in and I don’t recommend you to uninstall and remove it from your hard drive. The safest way is stopping Windows Defender from auto running whenever Windows Vista is booted up.

Here is how to safely disable Windows Defender in Windows Vista.


There are 2 ways to stop Windows Defender from auto starting when Windows is booted up.

The hard way.
1. Go to Start > Run and type services.msc
2. Look for Windows Defender name and double click to bring up the properties window.
3. Click “Stop” button to stop Windows Defender services and set the Startup type “Disabled”
Stop Windows Defender Services
4. Go to Start > Run and type msconfig
5. Go to Startup tab and uncheck Windows Defender displayed at Startup Item.
disable Windows defender from MSCONFIG

Important: If you only stop and disable Windows Defender from Services and did not disable Windows Defender at MSCONFIG, you’ll get the error message “Application failed to initialized: 0x800106ba. A problem caused this program’s service to stop. To start the service, restart your computer or search Help and Support for how to start a service manually.”
Application failed to initialized: 0x800106ba. A problem caused this program's service to stop. To start the service, restart your computer or search Help and Support for how to start a service manually

The easy way.
1. Run Windows Defender.
2. Click Tools and go to Options
3. Scroll right to the bottom and you’ll see an option “Use Windows Defender”.
4. Uncheck “Use Windows Defender” and it’ll be disabled.
Uncheck Use Windows Defender

Disabling Windows Defender in Windows will leave your computer unprotected from spywares. A good alternative that you can use to replace Windows Defender is AVG Anti-Spyware Free Edition 7.5 which is a popular free antispyware solution available at no cost to home users and provides a high level of detection capability.


Related posts:
  • Bypass, Remove and Disable Windows Genuine Notification
  • Disable Windows Vista User Account Control (UAC)
  • Bypass Validation to install Windows Defender Beta 2
  • Disable XP SP 3 and Vista SP1 From Windows Automatic Updates
  • How To Remove or Disable Shared Documents from My Computer
    • Freek

      Raymond, now I still don’t know how to UNINSTALL Windows Defender from Vista… I tried everything… I hope you know or can find a solution to this, since it messed up my Norton Antivirus Classic 2008
      Thanks

    • Hash

      Here is my problem: I tried everything i can do to stop the Security Warning popup to keep coming in the tray bar. THe only problem is it says Defender is turned off and i cant even turn it on from the button next to it. How can make the Security Center say everything is on?

    • boitano

      to Freek: you cant uninstall defender
      to Hash: disable security notification

    • http://Hayotraforma... REDechile

      Bueno hay otra forma… y es simple, desactiven W. Defender en la configuracion del mismo programa como aqui ya se ha explicado a demas de deshabilitarlo como tambien aqui ya explicaron… y luego descarguen Window Defender de alguna pagina e instalenlo como como si lo hicieran en XP… luego reinician y lo desinstalan… automaticamente el W. D. desaparecera… y adios antiespia. Ya luego instalen el que ustedes quieran.

    • fsr

      I discovered this blog recently, but another reason to disable Defender, is that Defender is producing registry handles to leak – whatever that is -.

      1) 224 user registry handles leaked from \Registry\User\S1-5-21-4014990344-446842713-1762232497-1000_Classes:
      2) 45 user registry handles leaked from \Registry\User\S-1-5-21-4014990344-446842713-1762232497-1000_Classes:
      3) 3 user registry handles leaked from \Registry\User\S-1-5-21-4014990344-446842713-1762232497-1000:
      4) 161 user registry handles leaked from \Registry\User\S-1-5-21-4014990344-446842713-1762232497-1000
      (…)

      The list goes on and on. I tried creating a new account but the only fix is to disable it. It’s event id 1530, if you want to google it.

      Cheers.

    • Juhani

      Download jv16powertools, it’s able to rip off defender, sidebar and calendar, maybe something else too… but do it at your own risk…

    • Gunnar

      Thanks man, you fixed my problemswith my windows defender…….

      thanks agian,

      Gunnar

    • Siskowski, Frank

      Deaktiviert den Windows-Defender im Autostart.

    • bitoy

      thanks for this, im currently dl ing right now so i cant tell you the result but this looks like it should disable it. thanks again guys.

    • bitoy

      noh, sorry but it still pop up during start up. thanks anyway

    • http://crabve4pics.blogspot.com Y2kBug

      search field – msconfig

      disable windows defender in startup and services tab

      apply and ok

      restart

      no pop-up

    • Karen

      Thanx so much for helping me with this irritating problem. I wasn\’t even able to open Defender to perform any functions, So I used your suggestions and did the following: I did Start > Run and then typed \”services.msc\”. Then I did \”msconfig\” to keep from getting the error message everytime I booted up my pc. So thanx again.

    • http://asd harrys

      thx :):)

    • pearlade

      I can’t uninstall it from XP either, as it doesn’t show in Add /Delete.
      Any suggestions?
      Thanks

    • sashi89

      thanks 4 info, so far so good

    • ms

      You rock! Thanks so much!

    • suman

      had a problem after starting the comp, was getting the error message “Application failed to initialized: 0×800106ba. A problem caused this program’s service to stop. To start the service, restart your computer or search Help and Support for how to start a service manually.” so disabled the windows defender and the issue resolved. thanks for the suggestion.

    • Steve

      Windows 7 doesn’t show Windows Defender under startup programs, nor have I found out how to run the program because it is not in Start/All Programs.
      I have found it in Program Files, and I’ll likely soon delete it, as I run AVG Pro instead.

      I was able to disable it under “services.msc”

      It appears Microsoft is trying to force this program upon novice users. I don’t see why they feel they need to do so.

      Seeing as I just disabled WD, I don’t yet know whether I’ll get an error because I wasn’t able to disable it in startup. You may have to completely remove WD in Win7 if you don’t want it.

      This is what I’m going to do: delete the folder WD in Progam Files. then using RUN, type “regedit” find
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender
      ..and delete the key.

      Or, an excellent program such as CCleaner might clean these registry values for you after you delete the folder.

    • Steve

      Ok, I found it under the Control Panel (never used Vista).
      And it appears just disabling and stopping it under “services.msc” has disabled it.
      The program will tell you that you can click to re-enable or just restart Windows.
      So, I restarted Windows to make sure I wasn’t going to receive any error messages or have WD re-enable itself.

      Neither occurred.

    • Kayla

      Thank You to you all! You are my life saver…lol That windows defender error message was driving me crazy! Does anyone know why it does that in the 1st place?

    • Yoseph Asa

      salam jumpa, saya dari NTT, Kefamenanu. Saya punya masalah dengan windows defender di vista. Semula windows defendernya aktif tapi sekarang ini tidak aktif lagi. Bagaimana mengaktifkan kembali karena begitu saya mau aktifkan selalu muncul infromasi ‘aplikasi gagal diinisialisasi:0x800106ba.

      Makasih atas bantuannya

    • http://איךלבטלאת...באמתWINDOWSDEFENDER אורח

      נכנסים לWINDOWS DEFENDER->כלים->אפשורויות->(הכי למטה)אפשרויות מנהל->מורידים את הV מה”השתמש תמיד בWINDOWS DEFENDER” לוחצים שמור ואז יופיע לכם חלום שמודיע שהתוכנה כבר לא פעילה, תלחצו על סגור…ותחייכו, הצלחתם.

      תלמדו גם לקרוא מדריכים באנגלית.

    • al jones

      Suggestion #2: After I open the TOOLS and OPTIONS sections of the WD page, I run into a program with the ADM section. The page opens, however, I cannot scroll down to the section to uncheck WD. Do you have any suggestions? Help!

      Al

    • http://stillnotworking Vinod Singh

      guys i hav tried many things 2 remove dis win. ent. defender…but evry thing gone in vain …pls suggest me sumthin new…!

    • dawian

      you can uninstall windows defender. you just need to enable correct registry setting for windows installer and then uninstall it via control panel. defender gone forever :D google it.

    • andy visser

      ik heb ook vraag hopelijk weet iemand dat ik heb bij windows defender uit de opstartlijst windows defender uitgeschakeld en verweiderd nu wil ik hem weer terug zetten maar dat lukt niet ik heb al gekeken bij services.msc daar staat hij goed maar nog steeds moet ik een administratie acount hebben om hem eerst aan te zetten weet iemand hoe ik die weer terug zet in de map opstarten van windows defender ben al 2 dagen bezig met zoeken maar kom er niet uit kan iemand mij helpen aub

    • Andy

      - disable W.D. at it’s interface
      - stop and disable WinDefend service
      - open CMD as an Admin and type
      sc delete WinDefend
      - hit Enter
      - go to Program Files folder and delete W.D.folder
      (use Unlocker and/or Permissions Reg Fix)
      - Done

    • Andy

      - get Ccleaner (from Piriform) – to delete autostart entries
      - or Autoruns (from Sysinternals)
      - and get a life bros

    • Moises

      A los responsables de:

      Cómo deshabilitar, desinstalar o eliminar Windows Defender en Vista.

      …………………..

      Muchas gracias por vuestra ayuda, de veras.
      Moises.

    • Walter

      ¿por qué el w.defender no se puede desinstalar en el w.vista?
      Porque micro$oft lo que desea es usarlo para detectar cracks, loaders, hacks que legalicen el sistema operativo, o el office etc etc
      Deben hacerlo desaparecer ya que es un instrumento del monopolio de micro$oft.
      El AVG gratuito también está al servicio pago de empresas que quieren deshacerse de la piratería de sus softwares.

    • iomio

      Vista defender je kreisran u Spayware Doctor to push you to buy they protection, just look litle on loth of similarity in creation.

    • jessika

      pues io no se
      solo odio a windows defender…

      cosa fea… :(

    • jessika

      te amo makakin

    • sigma

      Learn how to uninstall Vista from your computer easily, here:

      http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/33566.aspx

    • felipe reyes

      la primer opcion fue mas que suficiente, llevaba todo el dia y no podia quitarlo, gracias por su gran experiencia
      bye

    • Roberto

      se que este post es viejito pero apenas lo necesite. Muchas gracias.

    • Lilith

      graciiias :D

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