[spiritchaser]

I want to uninstall Windows Defender but it's not on the list of programs when I go through my control panel. I know there's a way to do it so how do I uninstall a Windows program from Windows Vista?

[A41202813]

@spiritchaser

You Can Find Another Free UnInstallers, For Instance, In The VERSIONTRACKER / DOWNLOAD / CNET Site.

I Have One Package That Includes An UnInstaller, Called EASYCLEANER.

Some Items That Do Not Appear In The Windows Installed Programs, Sometimes Appear There.

You Have 2 Options, UnInstall Or Delete.

The Delete Option Only Eliminates The Title When The Program Is 'Impossible' To UnInstall.

Do Not Forget To Do A RESTORE POINT And A BACKUP, Before You Start Fiddling With Tweaking Programs You Are Not Familiar With.

[Flashorn]

You cannot Delete or Uninstall Windows Defender But, you can Stop this program from starting up.

Go to > Start > Control Panel > Programs & Features.

On the left hand side, you will see "Turn Windows Features On or Off"



Follow the prompts.



FLASHORN.

[compnovo]

spiritchaser, on 06 April 2011 - 02:32 PM, said:

I want to uninstall Windows Defender but it's not on the list of programs when I go through my control panel. I know there's a way to do it so how do I uninstall a Windows program from Windows Vista?

Hi spiritchaser,
Do you have a good antispyware program to replace Windows Defender with? It's a pretty decent, low resource program that plays well with other anti-malware app's so it doesn't hurt to keep it running.

[crazy4laptops]

spiritchaser, on 06 April 2011 - 02:32 PM, said:

I want to uninstall Windows Defender but it's not on the list of programs when I go through my control panel. I know there's a way to do it so how do I uninstall a Windows program from Windows Vista?

As Flashorn has said you can't uninstall defender, but you can disable it. Read below to see how

Start > search box > type 'services.msc' no quotes and hit enter
Scroll down to windows defender, double click on it and choose disabled from the drop down list. Defender will stay dormant.
Follow the visual guide below- http://www.howtogeek...ow-turn-it-off/

@compnovo, windows defender is a resource hog in Vista, I have to disable it to keep working smoothly... MSE does a much better job.

[compnovo]

crazy4laptops, on 06 April 2011 - 04:17 PM, said:

@compnovo, windows defender is a resource hog in Vista, I have to disable it to keep working smoothly... MSE does a much better job.

Hey crazy,
I certainly prefer MSE over Defender alone. I hadn't experienced the resource problems with Vista that you're describing, but that may explain why the OP wants to remove the program.

[spiritchaser]

According to one of my restore points in system restore I somehow inadvertently uninstalled Windows Defender Checkpoint. It said that exactly...."unistalled Windows Defender Checkpoint." Since I was able to uninstall one part of the program shouldn't I be able to unistall the entire program? If you wanted to unistall a different Windows program like Windows Mail or Messenger how would you do it? If you brought up the list of Windows programs to delete any of them I would assume Defender would be on that list. I'm trying to think logically here. Am I missing something or am I just delusional?....LOL.

[Flashorn]

spiritchaser, on 07 April 2011 - 02:15 PM, said:

According to one of my restore points in system restore I somehow inadvertently uninstalled Windows Defender Checkpoint. It said that exactly...."unistalled Windows Defender Checkpoint." Since I was able to uninstall one part of the program shouldn't I be able to unistall the entire program? If you wanted to unistall a different Windows program like Windows Mail or Messenger how would you do it? If you brought up the list of Windows programs to delete any of them I would assume Defender would be on that list. I'm trying to think logically here. Am I missing something or am I just delusional?....LOL.

OK, let's make this very clear for anyone that would come across this same situation or question.

First, what you uninstalled or rather, the System uninstalled, was a Restore Point made by Windows Defender
before a Definitions update. Every time Windows updates (that would be every month) if you have Windows
Update set to Automatic then, a System Restore Point is created. Every time you update a Driver, a System
Restore Point is created.

After a certain amount of Restore Points, there is no more room for the creation of Restore Points as the
System reserves a certain amount space on the HDD for this specific task. Once that amount has been reached
it will delete the oldest Restore Points in order to make room for Newer Restore Points to be created.
This is how you get to have Restore points dating back say, a couple of weeks IF you don't install new programs
or don't use Microsoft Security Essentials or don't use Windows Defender that will be creating Restore Points
at specific intervals which entails the creation of Extra Restore Points thus filling in the Reserved space.

This reserved space Can be configured to any amount you want to dedicate to this service But, by default, the
System will access as much space as it deems necessary to accommodate it's needs which are pre-determined
in the OS.

So, in fact you did Not uninstall Part of Windows Defender as definitions change on a daily basis and not part of it's coding.

You can ONLY Disable this feature and not uninstall as it is Part of the OS (integrated) as is Internet Explorer.
You would be hard-pressed to use Windows Mail or Outlook or Outlook Express without the help Internet Explorer as it
too is part of the OS.

You can uninstall Internet Explorer Only IF you update from IE7 to IE8 or IE9. These are not hard coded in the OS as they
are Updates and thus can be uninstalled.


I hope this clears up your concerns.



FLASHORN.

This post has been edited by Flashorn: 07 April 2011 - 03:02 PM

[spiritchaser]

Thanks for the clarification Flashorn. I'm glad there are people out there who know what they're talking about. I learn a little bit more every day.

[Flashorn]

It's my pleasure spiritchaser.

If there's any thing else, just ask.



FLASHORN.