With Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft introduced a new app called Windows Defender Security Center.

The Windows Defender Security Center is the place where you can view the status of virus and threat protection, device health and performance, firewall and network protection, and app & browser control.

While the Windows Defender Security Center app makes it easy to have a glance at the security of your PC, the problem is that the app continues to exist on your Windows 10 PC even after you install a third-party antivirus software like Avast Antivirus or McAfee Free Antivirus. The biggest problem is that the Windows Defender Security Center app continues to appear in the system tray even while using a third-party antivirus software.

Right-clicking on Windows Defender Security Center icon in system tray shows only Open option. There is no option to hide the system tray icon in Windows Defender Security Center app.

If you are protecting your Windows 10 PC with a third-party antivirus, you might want to get rid of Windows Defender Security Center icon from the system tray area of taskbar.

Luckily, removing Windows Defender Security Center icon from system tray is fairly easy and can be done without editing Registry or using any additional software.

If you are wondering, you can launch Windows Defender Security Center even after removing the tray icon. Just type Windows Defender in Start/taskbar search and then press Enter key to open Windows Defender Security Center.

Remove Windows Defender Security Center system tray icon

Step 1: First of all, right-click on an empty spot on the taskbar and then click Task Manager to open the same. One can also use Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut to quickly open the Task Manager.

Step 2: If you see the Task Manager with limited details, click More details button to open the full version of Task Manager.

Step 3: Look for the Startup tab. Switch to the Startup tab.

Step 4: Here, look for Windows Defender notification icon entry. Right-click on it and then click Disable.

Step 5: Finally, either reboot your PC once, or sign out and sign in again to get rid of the Windows Defender Security Center icon from system tray.

If you ever see the icon in the tray again, please follow above-mentioned directions again.

Don’t forget to check out our how to disable Windows Defender in Windows 10 via Registry or Group Policy guide.