Step 2: Click on Computer Configuration and Administrative Templates. Step 1: Press “ Win + R” and Type “ gpedit.msc”, then hit Enter or OK. Method 2: Using Group Policy to disable Windows Defender Step 4: Click the Real-Time Protection, Cloud-Delivered Protection and Automatic Sample Submission switches to turn Windows Defender off. Step 3: Open Windows Defender’s settings, and then click on the ' Virus & Threat Protection settings' link. Step 2: Select “ Windows Security” from the left pane and choose “ Open Windows Defender Security Center”. Step 1: Click “ Settings” in the “ Start Menu”. Method 1: Turn off windows defender temporarily In this article, I will show you how to turn off Windows Defender in Windows 10. Sometimes, you may want to turn it off to perform certain tasks that Windows Defender may interfere with, or you plan to install other anti-virus applications. Windows Defender is the security application that Microsoft puts in every version of Windows.