If those services aren't running well, the issue of Windows Defender not turning on will happen on Windows 11/10/8/7. In order to let Windows Defender work properly, you need to enable certain services. Method 2: Restart the Security Center Service Then find your third-party program, right-click on it and choose Uninstall or Uninstall/Change to remove it to get rid of Windows Defender not turning on issue.Īlternatively, you can use a professional removal tool to uninstall your security applications, remove all files (including undetected files) and registry entries associated with the application, which may also prevent you from running Windows Defender.įinally, restart your PC and try launching Windows Defender again to see if it can be turned on for virus, spyware and other threats protection. To do this, go to Control Panel > Programs and Features in Windows 7 or navigate to Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program in Windows 11/10/8. If that is not working, the best way is to completely remove them. Well then, what to do if you are troubled by Windows Defender not working? How to turn on Windows Defender in Windows 8/10/7 successfully? Take it easy! Get the full solutions from the following part to help you out.įurther tip: If your Windows Defender can work normally, but you have a need to disable it, you can watch the following video. For Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11 users, it is fairly common. To put it simply, this issue is possibly caused by the installation of third-party antivirus software, a corrupted registry, software conflicts, and so on.

In addition to the case when Windows Defender could be turned off by group policy, some users said Windows Defender gets an unexpected error and cannot be opened or Windows Defender can't open after uninstalling Avast, Bitdefender, McAfee, AVG. One Windows 10 user from tomsguide said: 'A few days back I turned it off completely using group edit policy, but now when I try to put on the real-time protection slider, it asks for permission but then nothing happens.' tomsguide However, many users have reported that their Windows Defender can't be turned on for virus defense in Windows 11/10/8/7 when they click on the Turn on button.

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