There are a couple of ways you can disable Windows Defender on your PC. When you install another anti-virus product, Windows Defender automatically disables itself so that the two programs don’t interfere with each other. Another option before permanently disabling Windows Defender is to install a third-party anti-virus program. The other option is to simply turn off Windows Defender, which I don’t recommend unless you really must. Once you add the offending items to the list, the amount of time it takes to complete the scan should be cut down significantly. You can add a File, Folder, File Type or Process to the exclusion list. You can do this by going to Virus & Threat Protection, then Virus & Threat Protection settings and finally clicking on Add or remove exclusions. When you see that it is taking a long time in a particular directory or when scanning a specific process, you can then add that to the exclusions list. The best way to figure out what to exclude is to perform a full scan and watch as it goes through all the items on your computer.

This brings us to the next possible solution. Most automatic scans shouldn’t take that long, so if you’re seeing that your computer is running slow for long periods, it could be that Windows Defender is spending a lot of time scanning a directory or a process that doesn’t need to be checked.

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