Prevent Windows from notifying antivirus when you open an email attachment

This article will be handy if you want to prevent Windows from notifying your antivirus to scan file attachments. You can disable or turn off this functionality with the help of the Local Group Policy Editor and Registry Editor.

Now, one should normally NOT do this, but if you have your reasons for doing it, Windows 11/10 provides you with a way to do it.

Whenever a file arrives on the computer’s email server, Windows pings the installed antivirus to scan the file automatically. Whether you have Windows Defender or any other antivirus, it happens with all of them. Windows performs this task to ensure the user’s security since ransomware attacks through file attachments. However, if you are carrying out some tests, and you want to disable this security functionality on Windows 10, then this article will guide you through the steps.

Stop Windows from notifying antivirus, when opening attachments

Windows provides a Group Policy setting, Notify antivirus programs when opening attachments, that stops scanning of email attachments when you open them. To prevent Windows from notifying antivirus to scan file attachments, follow these steps-

1. Press Win+R to open the Run prompt.
2. Type gpedit.msc and hit the Enter button.
3. Navigate to Attachment Manager in the User Configuration.
4. Double-click on Notify antivirus programs when opening attachments.
5. Select Disable.
6. Click the Apply and OK.

Press Win+R to open the Run prompt. Then, type gpedit.msc and hit the Enter button to open the Local Group Policy Editor on your computer. After opening, navigate to this path-

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Attachment Manager

On the right-hand side, you will get a setting called Notify antivirus programs when opening attachments. By default, it is set to Not Configured. Select the Disable option, and click on the Apply and OK buttons, respectively.

This policy setting allows you to manage the behavior for notifying registered antivirus programs. If multiple programs are registered, they will all be notified. If the registered antivirus program already performs on-access checks or scans files as they arrive on the computer’s email server, additional calls would be redundant.

If you enable this policy setting, Windows tells the registered antivirus program to scan the file when a user opens a file attachment. If the antivirus program fails, the attachment is blocked from being opened.

If you disable this policy setting, Windows does not call the registered antivirus programs when file attachments are opened.

If you do not configure this policy setting, Windows does not call the registered antivirus programs when file attachments are opened.

After that, Windows won’t notify the registered antivirus to scan any file attachment. In case you want to re-enable this feature, navigate the same path in the Local Group Policy Editor, and select the Not Configured option.

Prevent Windows from notifying antivirus when you open and email attachment using Registry

To prevent Windows from notifying antivirus to scan file attachments using Registry Editor, follow these steps-

1. Press Win+R to open the Run prompt.
2. Type regedit and hit the Enter button.
3. Click on the Yes button in the UAC prompt.
4. Navigate to Policies in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
5. Right-click on Policies > New > Key.
6. Name it as Attachments.
7. Right-click on Attachments > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
8. Name it as ScanWithAntiVirus.
9. Set the Value data as 1.
10. Click OK.

Don’t forget to first, create a System Restore point and backup all Registry files.

At first, you will open the Registry Editor on your computer. For that, press Win+R to open the Run prompt, type regedit, and hit the Enter button. If the UAC prompt appears, click the Yes button. Once the Registry Editor is opened, navigate to the following path-

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments

If the Attachments key is not there, right-click on Policies, and select New > Key. Following that, name it as Attachments. However, if you can already see the Attachments key inside Policies, you can skip this step.

Then, right-click on Attachments, and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Name it as ScanWithAntiVirus. After that, double-click on the ScanWithAntiVirus, set the Value data as 1, and click the OK button to save the change.

If you set the Value data as 1, it will disable the file attachment scanning functionality. However, if you want to re-enable it, you can delete this Attachments key or set the Value data of ScanWithAntiVirus to 3. For that, open the Registry Editor, navigate the same path as mentioned above, double-click on ScanWithAntiVirus, and set it accordingly.

I hope it helps.