Can confirm here as well, been like this for the past few insider builds, not entirely sure if it's Insiders related.. but i'm guessing it is.
Defender Antivirus "turned off"
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(278.4, 28.000000000000004%, 36%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EK1%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
kirbster 1
135
Reputation points
Windows 11 25H2 26200.8968 Release Preview
I keep getting notifications that Defender Antivirus is turned OFF. Every last toggle in Defender settings is toggled on, I get Antivirus updates, am able to run scans but I keep getting the notification window that Antivirus if off. I have notifications "toggled off" but still get the antivirus off notifications.
This is happening on a 2 day old Clean Install of Windows 11.
Any ideas why this is happening?
Windows Insider program | Windows Insider preview | Security, privacy, and accounts
7 answers
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CrazyKats 20,295 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator2026-07-29T16:27:44.7466667+00:00 Just wondering if either of the posters have a second AV
that could be turning it Off.
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(163.2, 81%, 25%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EK%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
KrillerB 0 Reputation points2026-09-13T20:21:36.0833333+00:00 Hello, i have the same issue.
The computer came pre-installed with McAffe which i removed with McAffes own uninstallation tool
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(12.8, 48%, 11%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EJ%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
jens 0 Reputation points2026-09-14T21:04:45.09+00:00 Nope, a full reinstall fixed this issue, also installing malwarebytes on purpose to disable defender without being defend-less fixed it before i fully reinstalled windows. The moment i removed malwarebytes entirely (after this was only a test, never had that installed before, by the way) defender started doing the same complaint again.
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