How to Disable Antivirus Software in 2024: Step-by-Step Guide

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Looking for a thorough guide on how to disable antivirus software, whether temporarily or permanently? This guide is for you. While we undoubtedly need an antivirus, they can block downloads or network traffic, and built-in antiviruses can even prevent us from using better third-party solutions.

Regardless of why you want to learn how to turn off antivirus software, this guide walks you through every step for both desktop and mobile.

What is Antivirus Software?

However, an antivirus doesn’t just protect you from viruses. It can also detect other online threats, such as trojans, ransomware, and even phishing attempts.

Once it detects a threat that can contaminate the rest of your system and other computers on the network, it gives you options to delete or quarantine the file to minimize the damage.

You get built-in antivirus solutions, such as Windows Defender, and dedicated third-party tools, like TotalAV, that you can install.

Should You Disable Your Antivirus Protection?

Given the growing number of cyberattacks in 2024, we’d never recommend disabling your antivirus, at least without having backup protection.

In fact, in 2023 alone, nearly 3 in 4 organizations were hit by ransomware attacks. Individuals are also bombarded by online threats—whether it’s phishing attempts, fake websites, or virus-ridden downloads.

A good antivirus will protect your data and devices from these risks, but we do understand that sometimes, it’s necessary to turn off virus protection.

If you’re wondering how to disable antivirus software, it’s likely you’re facing one of the following scenarios:

Read on to learn how to disable an antivirus temporarily – or even remove it from your system completely if you’re unhappy with your antivirus’ performance, for example.

How to Disable Antivirus Software

The process of disabling an antivirus differs from one operating system to another. It also depends on whether you’re using the built-in security features of your OS or third-party software.

First, let’s look at the steps to turn off your device’s default defense mechanisms.

Turning Off Device or Browser Antivirus Protection

While Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices all ship with built-in security features, they often aren’t enough to protect you from today’s highly sophisticated threats.

That’s why many users choose to turn off the Google Chrome password manager, another built-in security service.

Here’s how to turn your antivirus off — for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

1. How to Disable Antivirus on Windows PC

Disabling an antivirus on your PC running Windows OS is a straightforward process:

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Note that this only turns off real-time scans, which means your downloaded and installed apps won’t be scanned for virus infections or blocked from installation.

They’ll still be checked during the next scheduled scan, but you can turn it off by defining exclusions, where you can whitelist a specific file, folder, or process so that it isn’t checked by antivirus.

Simply click on the ‘Add or remove exclusions’ button under the ‘Virus & threat protection’ settings.

In addition to Windows antivirus, you may want to turn off firewall protection when trying to access certain websites or downloads.

To do this, go to ‘Start’ and open the ‘Control Panel’. Select ‘System and Security’ and then find ‘Windows Defender Firewall’. Toggle this off.

2. How to Turn Off Antivirus on Mac

Macs have several built-in measures, many of which you can disable. First, you’ll want to turn off the antivirus in Safari, your Mac’s primary browser.

Open Safari, go to ‘Settings’ from the menu bar, and click ‘Extensions.’ De-select any ad block extensions you may have installed.

MacOS will also prevent you from installing apps that have not been vetted by Apple. To turn this off, go to System Settings and find the ‘Privacy & Security’ section for all the virus protection features.

3. How to Turn Antivirus Off on Android

To turn off antivirus on your Android device, go to Settings, locate ‘Apps,’ and find the antivirus you have installed. Tap on the antivirus and choose ‘Force Close.’

This temporarily pauses the antivirus without completely removing it from your system. Android doesn’t come with built-in security software like Windows Protector.

However, it does have something called Google Play Protect that prevents unverified app downloads.

4. Steps to Disable Antivirus on iOS

Disabling antivirus on iOS is similar to Android. Find the software from your phone’s (or iPad’s) app gallery; tap and hold the icon until a small red cross appears in the corner. Tap the cross to uninstall it.

You can also ‘Force Quit’ the antivirus as you would any other app. Simply swipe up from your home screen, scroll left or right to find the active antivirus, and swipe up on the app to close it.

Do note that the antivirus might turn on again the next time you switch your phone or tablet on.

iOS, too, doesn’t let you install apps from outside its own vetted app store. However, unlike Android, there’s no way to turn this off without jailbreaking your Apple mobile device.

How to Disable Antivirus By Software Vendor

If you don’t want to change your device settings, you can also turn off antivirus protection from within the software you’re using.

Modern antiviruses recognize that users want full control over their software. Here are the steps to switch off some of the most popular antivirus platforms in 2024 without uninstalling it completely.

1. How to Disable TotalAV

TotalAV regularly ranks among the best mobile antiviruses and is equally popular for computers. If you’re using TotalAV but want to disable it for some reason, follow these steps:

Just like in Windows Defender, you can also specify the files, folders, and processes that you want excluded from virus scans.

2. How to Disable Nord

Nord Threat Protection is the antivirus feature bundled with the company’s popular NordVPN tool. It scans your computer for malware, checks the websites you visit, and prevents malicious downloads.

You don’t necessarily need to turn this service off to access blocked websites—simply click on the ‘Unblock’ button that appears when it detects a suspicious website.

If you’re still wondering how to disable the antivirus, here are the steps:

You can keep Threat Protection Lite on even after you’ve disabled the antivirus. The Lite version protects you from malicious and phishing domains and intrusive ads but doesn’t block any trackers or downloads.

3. How to Disable Norton

Norton is another widely used antivirus program that has existed since the 1990s. The company makes it easy to temporarily turn off Norton protection when downloading a file, accessing a website, or troubleshooting your computer.

Here are the steps:

The above steps only work on Windows PCs. If you’re using Norton antivirus on a Macbook, go to the Norton app’s settings, and under ‘Protect My Mac,’ turn off automatic, scheduled, and idle scans.

4. How to Disable Surfshark Antivirus

SurfShark is a great antivirus if you’re looking for an end-to-end security suite. It includes a VPN, an ad blocker, identity protection, and data removal features, in addition to antivirus software.

The company has also made it easy to disable antivirus protection. Open the app, and on your left-hand side, you’ll find the navigation pane. Click on the antivirus tab, which looks like a beetle.

This takes you to the main dashboard where you have all your antivirus settings. Simply toggle everything off.

Similar to Windows Defender and TotalAV, you can exclude certain files, folders, apps, and processes from antivirus scans.

5. How to Disable Trend Micro

Trend Micro is one of the world’s leading cybersecurity companies. It caters to individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises and offers a powerful antivirus that’s also easy to turn off.

From your taskbar, right-click on the Trend Micro icon, which looks like a red circle with a white curved line running through it. From the menu that appears, select ‘Exit.’

That’s it – you’ve successfully disabled your antivirus until the next time you boot up. The process is slightly different on Mac. Press Cmd + space to open Spotlight, MacBook’s quick search feature.

Type in ‘Trend Micro Antivirus Diagnostic Toolkit’ and press RETURN. When the toolkit pop-up opens, select ‘Stop Components’ from the general tab.

Why You Shouldn’t Turn Off Your Antivirus

In general, we’d recommend you keep your PC’s defense systems on at all times to protect you from ever-increasing threats.

A good antivirus won’t slow down your machine or get in the way of your work – rather, it’ll protect your system from a wide range of threats:

In severe cases, the virus may infect your device drivers or hard disk, rendering your PC unusable. If you decide to disable your antivirus, bear these risks in mind.

Sometimes, if the antivirus software is occupying too much space or if constant notifications are bothering you, switching to a different vendor might be a better idea than turning off protection altogether.

What Features Should an Antivirus Have?

In general, we’d recommend you keep your PC’s defense systems on at all times to protect you from ever-increasing threats.

A good antivirus won’t slow down your machine or get in the way of your work – rather, it’ll equip you with the following:

• Scheduled and Real-Time Scans — Schedule daily, weekly, or custom scans and get reports on what’s found. It also scans any files you download before they’re saved to your device.
• Automatic Updates — These are vital to keeping up with new threats, which is why people disable built-in antiviruses (they aren’t updated enough).
• Phishing Protection — Protects you from ill actors who try to trick you into clicking malicious links or downloading corrupt files (usually through emails)
• Ransomware Shield — Safeguards you from hackers that encrypt your files and demand payment before offering the decryption key.
• Firewall — This protects you from potentially dangerous network connections and websites. You can also whitelist certain apps and websites and temporarily turn the firewall off.
• Webcam Safety — This monitors apps and users requesting access to your webcams and notifies you if anything is detected.
• System Optimization — Improve your device’s performance by cleaning your disks, removing duplicate/junk files, clearing tracking cookies, and more.

Other Antivirus Resources

To know more about antivirus software and the options available to you in 2024, check out our in-depth guides below:

The Verdict

While you might be wondering how to disable antivirus, it’s not a permanent solution. Your PC or mobile phone needs strong security mechanisms to protect your device and data from online threats.

While temporarily turning antivirus software off is fine, we never recommend it if you haven’t got backup protection. We’d tread cautiously with doing this to download files, as infection can be difficult to sort, and keeping your device vulnerable is never advised.

Antivirus platforms like TotalAV offer powerful yet non-intrusive protection that won’t hamper your user experience. You can always use Silent Mode, turn off some or all notifications, and exclude your trusted items from scanning.

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