 Hello everybody! This video is about how to disable Windows Defender in Windows 10 Creators Update and remove its icon from the system tray. Some of the advice will also work with other builds of Windows. Windows 10 Creators Update, build 17.03, has received many functional improvements. They include a new application, Windows Defender Security Center, which was previously known as Windows Defender Control Panel. This application makes it easier to control security and privacy options. However, if you are using a third-party antivirus software, you may want to disable the built-in system protection, but there can be problems because of the new and unusual interface. Let's see how to disable Windows Defender properly and how to hide the Defender icon from the system tray. To open the interface of this build in antivirus and to Defender in Windows Search field and select the link, Windows Defender Security Center. You can also get there by right-clicking on its icon in the system tray and selecting Open. To disable the protection, do the following. Click Settings icon in the lower left corner of the screen. In the window that opens, click on Virus and Thread Protection settings. In the next tab, drag the sliders for real-time protection, cloud-based protection and automatic sample submission to disable them. As a result, Windows Defender antivirus protection will be disabled. Remember that after some time, the protection will be activated automatically again unless your system has a third-party antivirus. So it is only a temporary solution. Certainly, you can disable the system antivirus every time it is automatically enabled, but there are also methods to disable the Defender for good. There are two ways to disable Windows Defender forever in Windows 10. Please keep in mind that one of the ways will only work with some versions of the operating system. For example, Group Policy Editor is a component of Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise. To disable Windows Defender with this editor, do the following. Right-click on the Start menu and select Run. Enter gpedit.msc and press Enter. Then go to Local – Computer Policy, Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Defender. When you are there, find the policy – Turn off Windows Defender. Double-click on it. In the window that opens, set the policy value to Enabled and apply the changes. After that, in the same Windows Defender section, go to the folder Real Time Protection. When you are there, find the policy – Turn off Real Time Protection. Double-click on it. In the window that opens, set the policy value to Enabled and apply the changes. Windows Defender is disabled after these changes are applied. To restore functionality of the application, you will have to set the policy value to Disabled or Not Configured. The system antivirus can also be disabled in Windows Registering. To do it, right-click on the Start menu and select Run. Enter regedit.exe and press Enter. Go to the Registry key. H key – Local Machine, Software, Policies, Microsoft, Windows Defender. If you see a property named Disabled and Despairware, change its value to 1 to Disabled Windows Defender. If this property doesn't exist, right-click on the Windows Defender icon in the left navigation pane of the editor, select New, Deword 32-bit Value. Name it Disabled and Despairware and set its value at 1. In order to enable Windows Defender later, change this value into 0 or just delete these settings. After that, in the Windows Defender section, create a key named Real Time Protection. To do it, right-click on the Windows Defender icon in the left navigation pane of the editor, select New, Key, name it Real Time Protection. In the key Real Time Protection, create a Deword 32-bit Value and name it Disabled Real Time Monitoring. Assign the value data 1. If there is already a key named Real Time Protection in the Windows Defender section, go there, double-click on Disabled Real Time Monitoring and change its value data to 1 to Disabled Windows Defender. If you disable Windows Defender with the help of local group policy, this value will be created automatically. In order to enable Windows Defender later, change this value data into 0 or just delete this value. Windows Defender Security Center shows a particular icon in the system tray, which becomes visible after you install Windows 10 Creators Update. It starts with the system and appears in the tray. Disabling the icon does not have any side effects. If you want to get rid of it, just do the following. Start Task Manager. Go to the Startup tab. Find the line Windows Defender Notification icon. Click on this item and select Disable. After you've done it, log off and then log in again. As a result, the Windows Defender icon will not appear in the system tray. If none of the methods helped you, you can try using search party software meant to disable Windows Defender in Windows 10. However, you should use this method only after other variants failed, because you cannot know for sure what exactly such program does in the background and what register values it changes. Visit our channel to watch a video about the rating of best free antiviruses that you can use instead of Windows Defender. Find the link in the description. That is all for now. If you liked this video, click the like button below and subscribe to our channel to see more. We'll be glad to answer any questions in comments. Thank you for watching and good luck.