3+ How to Enable Windows Defender in Windows 10 (100% Work)

For those of you who are Windows users, of course you are familiar with Windows Defender, right? Windows Defender is the default antivirus program on the Windows operating system. It is also not recommended that you turn off real-time protection unless there is a need that requires real-time protection to be turned off.

Well, the question is how do you reactivate Windows Defender that has been disabled? To answer this question, in this discussion, I will discuss how to activate Windows Defender in Windows 10.

How to Enable Windows Defender in Windows 10

How to activate Windows Defender can be done in two ways, namely through: Settings and Group Policy. For more details about the two ways, let’s see the explanation below.

1. Enabling Windows Defender Via Settings

Here are the steps to activate Windows Defender through settings:

1. Open window Settings by clicking on the image icon gear on Start Menu like the picture below.

Or you can use Windows Run by pressing the button Windows + I on the keyboard to open the Settings window easily and quickly.

2. After the Settings window appears, select Updates & security.

3. Then on the window Updates & security, choose Windows Defender.

4. Finally, in the section Real-time protection, navigate selections from OFF to ON to activate Windows Defender as shown below.

2. Enabling Windows Defender Through Group Policy

Before you try this method, you need to know that Group Policy Editor is not available on Windows 10 Home Edition but only available on Windows 10 Pro and edition Enterprise.

So, if you are still using Windows 10 Home Edition then you should try to activate Windows Defender through settings only as I explained above. Here are the steps to activate Windows Defender via group policy:

1. First, open Group Policy Editor by typing Group Policy in the search box, you will automatically be directed to Group Policy Editor then press Enter.

In addition, you can also use Windows Run by pressing Win + R on the keyboard and typing gpedit.msc then click OK.

2. After window Local Group Policy Editor appear, select Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender > Real-time Protection.

3. Next, look at the menu on the right side of the window, then select settings Turn off real-time protection and double click on the setting to open the window Turn off real-time protection.

4. After the window appears, select the option Not Configured to re-enable real-time protection, then click the button Apply.

As we know that turning off real-time protection does not mean the Windows Defender function will turn off completely. Because when Windows 10 knows that real-time protection has been turned off, Windows 10 will automatically reactivate Windows Defender real-time protection in a few minutes.

3. Activate Windows Defender Registry Editor

The next way to activate Windows Defender is to use the Registry Editor. You can see the steps below:

1. Open Run by pressing the button Windows + R. Then type regedit then press Enter.

2. After that you go to the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows Defender.

3. Look for the DWORD file named DisableAntiSpyware. If the file doesn’t exist, just create a file by right-clicking > select New then select DWORD (32-bit) Value.

4. DWORD file named DisableAntiSpyware successfully created.

5. Right-click the file and then select Modify.

6. In column Value data, enter the value 0 for activate Windows Defender and value 1 for deactivate it. Last select OK.

That’s the discussion this time about how to activate Windows Defender on Windows 10. Hopefully it’s useful and good luck. You should turn off Windows Defender if you want to install another antivirus, because later you are afraid of experiencing crash.

Founder and Chief Editor at Nesabamedia.com. I prefer watching movies than writing, just write when I’m in the mood. Pleased to meet you!

Share :