Windows 10: How to Remove Windows Defender Security Center icon from Taskbar

I recently upgrade to the Creators Update. I now have this icon in my Taskbar:




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Open it and it tells me that Antivirus is being handled by something else:
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And I can see that Defender has been disabled by Avast:
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So I don't need this notification there all the time and would like to remove it.

:)

 

Windows Defender Security Center

I was running McAfee Internet Security for a while and decided to go back to Windows Defender Security Center.

I uninstalled McAfee and ran their removal tool to clean up any references and rebooted my computer.

Windows Defender and Firewall restarted, however there is no Windows Defender icon in the right side of the taskbar, how can i get the icon back?

 

Updating Windows 10

Suggestion to read through the below articles (ignore ads) but please make also sure that your Norton program is correctly updated and running....

When in doubt please do ask Norton

• Hide or Show Windows Defender Notification Area Icon in Windows 10
• [Windows 10 Tip] Remove "Windows Defender Security Center" Icon from Taskbar Notification Area - AskVG
• [Tip] Disable or Remove "Windows Defender Security Center" App in Windows 10 - AskVG

 

There's a tutorial...

Hide or Show Windows Defender Notification Area Icon in Windows 10

 

Of course there is! Thanks Bree.

Is this thing new to CU, or has it always been in Win10 and I just didn't know?

 

The answer is Yes it has.

I already have that notification ticked off. But it is still there.
I am going to try toggling it on and off now.

 

Toggling it on then off works if the main setting is set to NOT always show all icons. But when setting it back to Show All Icons then it comes back on even though the setting is OFF.

 

Disable it as a Startup item:





End the task in processes:





Wave your mouse over the Taskbar icon as it disappears:

 

Thanks Edwin. That worked. Haven't restarted yet but I am sure it will stick.

Thanks again.

 

It's Baaaack.

Just restarted. And it is still disabled in Startup Items too.

 

Got it. I can't follow instructions!

I used CCleaner to disable it from Startup (Because that's what I always do!).
Disabling it from Startup in Task Manager worked.