How to disable real-time protection in Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft has just released their new free anti-virus product called Microsoft Security Essentials, it has been in public beta for a while now but just been released to the masses, I’ve only just installed it on the whole it seems as good as an anti-virus program from the makers of your operating system would be. One feature that I couldn’t easily find was how to disable the real-time protection on the fly which would be handy for when I want to play games without any interference from the real-time scanning. Currently the only way to do this is listed below:

  1. Open the main program window by either double clicking on the taskbar icon or running the Microsoft Security Essentials shortcut on your desktop.

    Microsoft Security Essentials - Home

  2. Click on the Settings tab and then click Real-time protection in the box on the left, to disable the real-time protection untick the tick box in the panel on the right and then click the Save changes button. It has now been disabled.

    Microsoft Security Essentials - Settings

  3. Just in case you weren’t sure this was a bad thing the Home tab has now been changed to warn you that you are at risk, to turn real-time protection back on it is as simple as clicking the giant red Turn on button once you are ready.

    Microsoft Security Essentials - At Risk

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