How To Temporarily Disable Your Anti-virus, Firewall And Anti-malware Programs

Here is the information for disabling Sophos AV (at least for non-business version):

Checking protection is on

The computer is protected by on-access scanning.

On-access scanning intercepts files as they are accessed, and grants access to only those that do not pose a threat to your computer or are authorized for use.

When on-access scanning is active, a blue shield is displayed in the system tray.

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When on-access scanning is inactive, the shield is gray.

Note: The status of on-access scanning is also indicated in the Sophos Anti-Virus window under Status.
If your computer is on a network, on-access scanning has probably already been configured. However, if you want to change the settings, refer to Configuring scanning.

Turning protection on or off for the computer
CAUTION:
If you turn protection off, Sophos Anti-Virus does not scan files that you access for threats.
Note: You need to be a member of the SophosAdministrator group to turn protection on or off for a computer.

On the Configure menu, click On-access scanning.
In the On-access scan settings for this computer dialog box, click the Scanning tab.
To turn on-access scanning on for the computer, select Enable on-access scanning for this computer, and click OK. The Sophos Anti-Virus system tray icon turns blue.

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To turn on-access scanning off for the computer, deselect Enable on-access scanning for this computer, and click OK. The Sophos Anti-Virus system tray icon turns gray.

In the Sophos Anti-Virus window, the Status menu is updated.

Note: Sophos Anti-Virus retains the settings you make here, even after you restart the computer. If you have turned on-access scanning off, it remains inactive until you turn it on again.

Note: If you turn on-access protection off, you can still run on-demand scans of your computer.



Disclaimer: The images in this post were obtained through Google Images search, and their respective website locations should show up in the image text of this post. If not, I can provide you with the link. (Just covering my bum)

I have a dell vostro 200 running on xp sp2. I installed bitdefender total security 2009 but didn't work well; didn't even appear in the taskbar and could only run manual scan and that too was screwed up and used to delete all exe files including games and everything good. I was told by a HJT team member to run combofix for which i had to disable the firewall of bitdefender but i couldn't as it wasnt there in the taskbar so i uninstalled it and rebooted my PC but still combofix tells me Bitdefender firewall is active . I checked in the C:\Program files for the bitdefender folder but it was deleted, tell me what shall i do as Combofix has to be run to remove malware but tells me it will run on my own risk.

I'm trying to disable PREVX (3.0). WHen I right click on the Prevx icon, Show Management Console is not an option. There is an option to "Stop Monitoring." Is that what I should choose?

I also have the Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition that I need to disable. I tried to find directions on how to do this via the link on the page, but got stuck since "status & settings" is not in my left nav. Can you help?

Instructions to disable Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition are provided in the Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition User's Guide under the section Turning File System System Protection off temporarily.

I am running Windows in Safe mode (the malware on my computer blocks my control when I go into full Windows) and the above disabling directions don't seem to apply for AVG and Spybot--the controls for the software seem to run differently in Safe Mode. Adaware looks similar though so should be ok with that. Please help with disabling in Safe Mode!

Thanks,

I am running

AVG 8.5
Adaware
Spybot

Basically, what you should be concerned with are real time scanners
AdAware is On Demand. So is Spybot, for the most part. You just need to be concerned with the Teatimer function, which is covered in this thread
For AVG, just right-click on the icon in the system Tray and select Exit

I read through the instructions and previous posts, but I still can't figure out how to disable McAfee's real time scanner, Total Protection Service, so I can uninstall ComboFix, per a helper's instructions. When I started the uninstall, I got a warning window that TPS was running and not to proceed until it was disabled. But there is no option to exit. (I hope it's okay to link an image.)



When I go to my programs menu to open TPS, nothing happens. It doesn't open, so there is nothing to turn off. Any ideas on how to turn it off? Thank you!

I went to McAfee and read the online manual. There is supposed to be another icon in my tray, but it's not there. It's a white M in a red square box. Is there another way to disable it? Thank you.

Basically, what you should be concerned with are real time scanners
AdAware is On Demand.

Hi garmanma,

Would Ad-Aware's Ad-Watch Live! be considered a real-time scanner? The product description shows it as being "Basic integrated real-time protection" but I'm not sure if that qualifies as a scanner.

If it is then then disabling it is easy. Right-click on the Ad-Aware icon in the system tray and choose Disable Ad-Watch Live!.

Coud someone give me the proper instructions to Temporarily Disable these Antivirus from Vietnam :
CMC Antivirus : hxxp://cmcinfosec.com/download/setupCMCIS.exe ( FROM hp://cmcinfosec.com/download.php )
BkavHome Antivirus (BKAV ) : xxhxxp://middle.bkav.com.vn/BkavHomeSetup.exe
and the update file : hp://middle.bkav.com.vn/BkavHomeUpdate.exe

During the process of removing malware from your computer, there are times you may need to use specialized fix tools. This is especially true if you are receiving help from a member of the HJT Team. Certain embedded files that are part of these specialized fix tools may at times be detected by your anti-virus or anti-malware scanner as a "RiskTool", "Hacking tool", "Potentially unwanted tool", a virus or a "Trojan" when that is not the case.

These tools have been carefully created and tested by security experts so if your anti-virus or anti-malware program flags them as malware, the detection is what's known as a "False Positive". Anti-virus scanners cannot distinguish between "good" and "malicious" use of such programs, therefore they may alert you or even automatically remove them. In these cases, the removal of these files can have "unpredictable results" and unintentional results.

To avoid any problems while using a specialized tool it is very important that you temporarily disable your anti-virus and/or anti-malware programs before using them or when instructed by a member of the HJT Team. You can re-enable these programs after the malware removal process has been completed.

Many folks may not be sure how to do this so the BC Staff has created a list of common anti-virus programs and the relevant steps to disable their Real-time protection capabilities. When your system has been cleaned or when advised by your helper, it is important that you re-enable your security programs to avoid re-infection. A special thanks to Yourhighness for the diligent effort in compiling this list.

How do you disable Spybot and Teatimer when you cannot get the program to load - the applications are shown as running the the Windows Task Manager - but the process cannot be stopped.

None of this will work, I have to contact AVG

In Avast I right clicked on the avast! icon in system tray and chose (Stop On-Access Protection). When I start combo fix I get Avast anti virus running, how do I shut this off?

How to disable McAfee® Total Protection™ Service 5.0.0.604

Right click the M shield and click on Open Console

Click on action menu and then click on Product Details

Under virus and spyware protection click Disable.

The solution given isn't working for my particular antivirus. We are running the newest version here. Any insight as to what has changed and how to fix it? Thanks.

Hi GregoryGrosu,

A few months ago I posted something on Sophos AV. Refer to post #27 & 28 in this thread (I apologize if these are the posts you were referring to already). I have a subscription through my university. I posted everything I could find/figure out/know. I hope it helps, and sorry if it doesn't!

Best,
S.