Windows 10 has always included the Windows Defender antivirus, just many Windows users didn't discover it was even in that location. To make it more obvious, Windows 10's Anniversary Update adds a Windows Defender icon to the notification expanse on your taskbar.

The shield-shaped Windows Defender icon appears fifty-fifty if you've installed and are using another antivirus program, since y'all can now employ Windows Defender alongside another antivirus. Merely you tin dismiss that icon and clean up your system tray if you lot don't want the clutter.

Yes, Windows Defender Will Still Work Normally

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Getting rid of the icon won't stop Windows Defender from functioning. Windows Defender volition nonetheless be running in the background, and you can nevertheless access it unremarkably from Settings > Organization & Security > Windows Defender > Open Windows Defender or by launching the "Windows Defender" application from your Offset carte. If it detects malware, yous'll still come across a notification, too.

The only difference is that the icon will get out of the fashion and Windows Defender will go dorsum to running silently in the groundwork. Or, if you've installed another antivirus and haven't enabled "limited periodic scanning", Windows Defender won't practise anything at all unless yous uninstall the other antivirus.

How to Remove the Windows Defender Icon

You lot can't merely right-click the Defender icon and shut information technology, nor can you lot open the Windows Defender interface and find an pick to hide or unhide the icon.

Instead, the tray icon is produced by some other program that launches when you sign into your PC. Y'all can disable this autostart program from the Task Manager. To access it, right-click your taskbar and select "Start Task Manager" or printing Ctrl+Alt+Del on your keyboard.

Click the "More Details" button, then click the Startup tab. Locate the "Windows Defender notification icon" option in the list, right-click it, and select "Disable".

This will disable the Windows Defender tray icon, and it won't automatically beginning whenever y'all log in. You can sign out and so sign back in–or restart your figurer–and the icon will be gone, though Windows Defender will still run.

To get rid of the tray icon without signing out of your Windows user account, you tin close the process manually. Click over to the "Processes" tab in the Task Manager and find the "Windows Defender notification icon" process in the list. Right-click it and select "Finish Task". The Windows Defender tray icon will immediately vanish.

How to Restore the Windows Defender Icon

If you decide y'all want the tray icon in the hereafter, you can restore it. Only head back to the Task Manager, click the Startup tab, locate the disabled "Windows Defender notification icon" program, right-click it and select "Enable".

The next time you sign out and sign dorsum in–or restart your computer–the tray icon will appear.

To get the tray icon back without signing out first, you can simply launch the process manually. Press Windows+R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog. Blazon or re-create and paste following command into the Run dialog and printing Enter:

"C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCuil.exe"

The program will launch, and the icon volition appear in your notification area immediately.

This process gets rid of the icon completely. You lot can also only move the tray icon into that little upward pointer to the left of your notification surface area. Just elevate-and-drop the shield icon onto that lilliputian arrow to hide it from your taskbar.