How to remove fake “Microsoft Defender” extension

What is Microsoft Defender

Malicious browser extensions posing as Microsoft Defender have emerged as a significant threat to online security, targeting popular web browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. These deceptive extensions are not affiliated with the legitimate Microsoft Defender Antivirus and primarily aim to mislead users into believing they offer enhanced security features. Once installed, they can alter browser settings, modify appearance and functionality, and collect sensitive user data, including browsing history, login credentials, and financial information. Users of these infected browsers often experience an influx of unwanted advertisements and notifications, which can lead to further security risks such as phishing scams and malware infections. The distribution of these malicious extensions typically occurs through dubious websites, bundled software downloads, and deceptive pop-up ads, which lure users into installing them without their full consent. Ultimately, the presence of such rogue extensions can result in severe privacy violations, identity theft, and significant financial losses for unsuspecting individuals. Therefore, it’s crucial to remain vigilant and practice safe browsing habits to avoid falling victim to these threats.

How Microsoft Defender infects computers

Microsoft Defender itself is a legitimate antivirus solution developed by Microsoft, designed to protect Windows users from various malware threats. However, cybercriminals often exploit users’ trust in Microsoft Defender by distributing fake or malicious versions that impersonate the genuine software. These counterfeit programs can be packaged within deceptive downloads, bundled with other software, or promoted through phishing attacks and rogue websites. Once installed, these malicious variants can compromise system security by disabling real antivirus protections, allowing other malware to infiltrate the system, steal sensitive information, or even control the device remotely. Users may unknowingly download these threats when they encounter misleading ads or notifications claiming that their system needs an urgent update or scan. Therefore, it’s crucial to remain vigilant and ensure that any security software installed on a device comes from official sources to avoid falling victim to these tactics.

1. Download Microsoft Defender Removal Tool
2. Remove Microsoft Defender from Control Panel and Applications
3. Remove Microsoft Defender extensions from browsers
4. Reset browser search and homepage settings
5. Alternative way to remove Microsoft Defender search redirects
6. Clean browser shortcuts from Microsoft Defender
7. How to protect from threats like Microsoft Defender

Remove Microsoft Defender manually for free

Here is a manual step-by-step tutorial for full Microsoft Defender removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of the Microsoft Defender an installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.

Note: Microsoft Defender can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy or Your browser is managed by your organization inscription near it), and this will not allow removal. Therefore, before starting removal process, perform these actions:

1. Start the Command Prompt by clicking the Start menu button and typing command prompt (or just searching for “command prompt” in Windows 10 search field). Right click on the Command Prompt result and choose Run as Administrator.



2. Type in and execute the following commands:

   
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force

Remove Microsoft Defender from Control Panel or Applications

To start removing Microsoft Defender you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Microsoft Defender”. It should uninstall correctly, however, we recommend you to use IObit Uninstaller to clean leftover items after uninstalling. Here are instructions for Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11, or Mac.

Remove Microsoft Defender from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find Microsoft Defender-related or other suspicious program.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Microsoft Defender from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Microsoft Defender-related or other suspicious program and click Uninstall.

Remove Microsoft Defender from Windows 8:

1. Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
2. Click Search.
3. After that click Apps.
4. Then Control Panel.
5. Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
6. Find Microsoft Defender-related or other suspicious program, click Uninstall.

Remove Microsoft Defender from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Microsoft Defender from Windows 10

Way one

1. Click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the System tile.
4. Click Apps & features and locate Microsoft Defender-related or other suspicious program in the list.
5. Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.

Way two (classic)

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
3. Locate Microsoft Defender-related or other suspicious program in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Remove Microsoft Defender from Windows 11:

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the Apps tab on the left side.
4. Click Apps & features and locate Microsoft Defender-related or other recently installed suspicious program in the list.
5. Click on 3-dots icon near it and then click Uninstall button near it.
6. Depending on the type of application (Windows Store app or classic Win32 app) it will be removed immediately or you will need to confirm the action and go through standard uninstall procedure.

Remove Microsoft Defender from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Microsoft Defender might have an Uninstaller.
3. Otherwise, drag Microsoft Defender from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Cannot uninstall Microsoft Defender in Windows

In some cases, Microsoft Defender won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Microsoft Defender. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing the Microsoft Defender folder and files. This happens because the process or service does not allow you to do it. In this case, I will recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 or Malwarebytes or uninstall Microsoft Defender in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. While it starts booting press F8 button.
3. This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
4. Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
5. Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove Microsoft Defender or other suspicious program

>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode

Cannot uninstall Microsoft Defender in MacOS

If you can’t uninstall Microsoft Defender using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Microsoft Defender. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag Microsoft Defender from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Microsoft Defender.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Microsoft Defender from Control Panel or Applications often does not bring the desired effect. It sometimes has a browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Microsoft Defender extension from your browsers manually.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions.
3. Find Microsoft Defender extension.
4. Click the Remove button to remove them.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Find Microsoft Defender extension.
4. Click three-dots icon near it and choose Remove in the menu.
5. In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
6. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find Microsoft Defender extension.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Microsoft Edge:

1. Start Microsoft Edge browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) edge://extensions.
3. Find Microsoft Defender extension.
4. Click Remove link under the name of extension.
5. In opened dialog window click Remove button to confirm the action.
6. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove Microsoft Defender from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Microsoft Defender, please, do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
4. Select Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Disable Microsoft Defender or other suspicious extensions.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Microsoft Defender does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:

1. Start Opera browser.
2. Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
3. Find Microsoft Defender or other suspicious extensions.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Microsoft Defender installs a search engine, that hijacks your browsers. Here is the instruction to reset your browser’s homepage, new tab, and search engine to default values.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings.
3. On the left panel expand Advanced options.
4. Choose Reset and clean up.
5. Click on Restore settings to their original defaults link and confirm by clicking Reset button.

Google Chrome > Settings > Advanced

Reset and clean up

Reset Google Chrome

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:support.
3. Click Refresh Firefox… button.
4. Click Refresh Firefox button in opened dialog window to confirm.

Reset Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
3. Click Remove All Website Data button.
4. In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
5. Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
6. Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
7. In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
8. Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
9. Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.

Microsoft Edge:

1. Start Microsoft Edge browser
2. Click on 3-dots icon in the top-right corner and choose Settings.
3. On the left panel find and click Reset settings option.
4. Click on Restore settings to their default values link and confirm by clicking Reset button.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu choose Internet options.
4. Click Advanced tab.
5. Click Reset button.
6. Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.

Opera Browser:

1. Start Opera browser and click on Opera icon in the top-left corner.
2. Choose Settings and click Advanced on the left side and choose Browser.
3. Scroll down to the very bottom and click on Restore settings to their original defaults link.
4. Confirm by clicking Reset button.

How to block ads and pop-ups, promoting Microsoft Defender


AdGuard main window

AdGuard general settings

AdGuard browser assistant

Microsoft Defender, in most cases, is promoted by ads and pop-ups on doubtful websites. These sites can redirect users’ browsers to Microsoft Defender ads, generating advertising revenue for the attackers. The malware is often offered through these ads, leaving users puzzled about the origin of the software. In some cases, users may unknowingly install the Microsoft Defender extension, which then injects advertisements into the websites they visit and redirects their search queries. Additionally, the malware can be distributed through other channels such as peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, misleading ads, and compromised or shady websites that trigger automatic downloads To protect your PC and browsers from phishing websites, pop-up ads, banners, malicious scripts it is recommended to use AdGuard. Download free trial here:

Download AdGuard for Windows

Download AdGuard for Mac

How to protect from threats, like Microsoft Defender, in future


SpyHunter 5 Dashboard

SpyHunter 5 Results

SpyHunter 5 System Guard

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Microsoft Defender may become a real headache as they are hard to remove and break your privacy. To keep safe from such threats we recommend you always use antivirus and one of the anti-malware programs available on the market. One of the best anti-virus programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats like Microsoft Defender.

Download SpyHunter for Windows

Download SpyHunter for Mac