General Windows 10

Windows 10 is a personal computer operating system developed and released by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It is starting to become widely used by Knox College students as out of the box PC's sold in stores now come with Windows 10. 

Windows 10 introduces what Microsoft described as "universal apps"; expanding on Metro-style apps, these apps can be designed to run across multiple Microsoft product families with nearly identical code‍—‌including PCs, tablets, smartphones, embedded systems, Xbox One, Surface Hub and Windows Holographic. The Windows user interface was revised to handle transitions between a mouse-oriented interface and a touchscreen-optimized interface based on available input devices‍—‌particularly on 2-in-1 PCs; both interfaces include an updated Start menu which incorporates elements of Windows 7's traditional Start menu with the tiles of Windows 8. The first release of Windows 10 also introduces a virtual desktop system, a window and desktop management feature called Task View, the Microsoft Edge web browser, support for fingerprint and face recognition login, new security features for enterprise environments, and DirectX 12 and WDDM 2.0 to improve the operating system's graphics capabilities for games.

Disable Windows 10 Defender for Knox College use with Sophos

In the latest build you can only temporarily disable Windows Defender. Here's how to permanently disable it:

Method 1:

1. Run gpedit.msc
   
2. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender
3. Double click on "Turn off Windows Defender"
   
4. Select "Enabled" > Apply > OK
5. Close Group Policy Editor
6. Install Sophos
   

   Method 2: Disabling Windows Defender using the Windows Registry

   You may disable Windows Defender in the Windows Registry as well. Basically, it is the same setting that gets written to it when you disable the application in the Group Policy Editor.

   1. Tap on the Windows-key to open the Start Menu.
   2. Type regedit.exe and hit enter.
   3. Confirm the UAC prompt to continue.
   4. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender
   5. If you see the preference DisableAntiSpyware on the right double-click on it and set it to 1 to disable Windows Defender.
   6. If the preference does not exist, right-click on Windows Defender and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value, and name itDisableAntiSpyware.

   To restore Windows Defender at a later point in time, delete the key or set its value to 0.

   Method 3: Normal disable and Task Scheduler

   If both methods outlined above don't work, you may still have another ace up your sleeve that you can try out.

   1. Tap on the Windows-key to open the Start Menu.
   2. Type taskschd.msc and hit enter to open the Windows Task Scheduler.
   3. You may get an UAC prompt that you need to accept.
   4. Navigate to Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Windows Defender.
   5. There you find "Windows Defender Scheduled Scan" which you need to double-click on.
   6. Switch to the Conditions tab when the window opens.
   7. Select "Start the task only if the computer is idle for" and set a large idle time amount there to prevent it from being run on the system.