

Select Start and Settings or use the keyboard shortcut Windows -I to open the Settings application.Step 1: Open Windows Security in the Settings application Sometimes, it may be sufficient to turn of the feature for a short period of time to work around issues that are experienced. Real-Time Protection can be turned off temporarily there, while all other protective modules can be turned off permanently. Windows Security has options to turn off certain security modules, including Real-Time Protection, in the Settings application. Enable or Disable Real-Time Protection in Windows 11 Reasons for wanting to do so include high resource use, Windows Defender Antivirus causing other issues on the system, no requirement for an antivirus solution, e.g., while using a virtual machine image of Windows 11, or simply because of wanting to decide what is running on the computer and what is not. Some may want to turn off Microsoft Defender Antivirus temporarily or permanently, even if no other solution is installed. Most Windows 11 users may want to keep Microsoft Defender Antivirus enabled if no other security solution is installed. Most third-party antivirus solutions that support Windows 11 are recognized, but there may be the odd solution that is not.
