Microsoft asks users to ignore 'Antivirus is turned off' errors

Microsoft asked customers this week to ignore incorrect alerts that Defender Antivirus has been turned off after installing the latest Defender updates.

Although this issue has been affecting users in the Release Preview Channel of the Windows Insider program since June, it appears Microsoft didn't notice it until now.

The erroneous alerts appear on affected systems in the Windows Security app and prompt users to "Tap or click to turn on Microsoft Defender Antivirus."

The known issue affects all supported Windows client and server versions, including the latest Windows 11 26H1 and Windows Server 2025 releases.

"After installing the latest updates for Microsoft Defender Antivirus, notifications might appear stating that "Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned off," even though the antivirus is functioning correctly and all settings show it as active," Microsoft explained in a Friday release health dashboard update.