• Newbie question: How to get rid of antivirus in Win10

    Posted on May 22, 2016 at 06:33 CDT by • Comment in the Forums

    I should repeat this more often. From AB:

    Dear Woody:
        When purchasing a Windows 10 laptop, I noticed that some manufacturers have installed their own antivirus software. How can I uninstall their software and install Windows Defender? Does Microsoft offer free technical support for Windows Defender?

    Bundled antivirus is a rip-off. The antivirus companies pay the hardware vendors to install their crapware on new machines. Antivirus is a multi-billion-dollar industry and their primary infection vector is through new machines.

    The method for getting rid of it varies depending on the vendor, but in general you just need to uninstall it – right-click Start, choose Control Panel, then at the bottom on the left choose Uninstall a program. Double-click on the antivirus program.

    Once you’ve gotten rid of the junk, Windows Defender will kick in. You don’t need to do anything.

    Microsoft does support Windows Defender and in most cases support is free, all the time. Start at answers.microsoft.com.

    Other
DON'T MISS OUT!
Subscribe to the Free Newsletter
We promise not to spam you. Unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

View the Forum

  • Recent Replies
  • My Replies
  • My Active Topics
  • New Posts in the Last day
  • Private Messages
  • Knowledge Base
  • How to use the Forums
  • All Forums

    • Recent Topics

    My Profile

    April 2025
    S M T W T F S
     12345
    6789101112
    13141516171819
    20212223242526
    27282930  

    Remembering Woody

     

    Want to Advertise in the free newsletter? How about a gift subscription in honor of a birthday? Send an email to sb@askwoody.com to ask how.

    Mastodon profile for DefConPatch
    Mastodon profile for AskWoody

     

    Home • About • FAQ • Posts & Privacy • Forums • My Account
    Register • Free Newsletter • Plus Membership • Gift Certificates • MS-DEFCON Alerts

    Copyright ©2004-2025 by AskWoody Tech LLC. All Rights Reserved.