How to Permanently Disable Security Notifications on Windows 10

Vadim Kononov's photo
Vadim Kononov
·

3 min read

Windows is very opinionated about its operating system, and always assumes it knows better than its users, so it does not provide a mechanism to disable security notifications, such as the one below, out of the box.

Even after disabling Windows Defender in Group Policy and turning off Security Center in Window Services, this message continues to show up.

Here's how you can disable these messages for good:

  1. Open services.msc from the search or the run command.

  2. Navigate to the "Security Center" service and set it to "disabled".

  3. In File Explorer navigate to the C:\Windows\System32 folder.

  4. Take ownership of files ActionCenter.dll and ActionCenterCPL.dll (see next section for instructions on taking over ownership).

  5. Rename the files ActionCenter.dll and ActionCenterCPL.dll to ActionCenter.dll.bak and ActionCenterCPL.dll.bak, respectively.

  6. Reboot

That's it! You should never see those pesky notifications again!

Taking Ownership of Files

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You must sign-in as an administrator to take ownership and change permission on file, folder or drive.

Method 1 (Quick)

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This method involves creating a Registry editor file and making changes to the Registry. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, go to Method 2.
  1. Create a file take_ownership.reg using Notepad and paste the following contents.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\TakeOwnership]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\runas]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\TakeOwnership]
@="Take Ownership"
"Extended"=-
"HasLUAShield"=""
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""
"NeverDefault"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\TakeOwnership\command]
@="powershell -windowstyle hidden -command \"Start-Process cmd -ArgumentList '/c takeown /f \\\"%1\\\" && icacls \\\"%1\\\" /grant *S-1-3-4:F /t /c /l' -Verb runAs\""
"IsolatedCommand"= "powershell -windowstyle hidden -command \"Start-Process cmd -ArgumentList '/c takeown /f \\\"%1\\\" && icacls \\\"%1\\\" /grant *S-1-3-4:F /t /c /l' -Verb runAs\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\TakeOwnership]
@="Take Ownership"
"AppliesTo"="NOT (System.ItemPathDisplay:=\"C:\\Users\" OR System.ItemPathDisplay:=\"C:\\ProgramData\" OR System.ItemPathDisplay:=\"C:\\Windows\" OR System.ItemPathDisplay:=\"C:\\Windows\\System32\" OR System.ItemPathDisplay:=\"C:\\Program Files\" OR System.ItemPathDisplay:=\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\")"
"Extended"=-
"HasLUAShield"=""
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""
"Position"="middle"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\TakeOwnership\command]
@="powershell -windowstyle hidden -command \"$Y = ($null | choice).Substring(1,1); Start-Process cmd -ArgumentList ('/c takeown /f \\\"%1\\\" /r /d ' + $Y + ' && icacls \\\"%1\\\" /grant *S-1-3-4:F /t /c /l /q') -Verb runAs\""
"IsolatedCommand"="powershell -windowstyle hidden -command \"$Y = ($null | choice).Substring(1,1); Start-Process cmd -ArgumentList ('/c takeown /f \\\"%1\\\" /r /d ' + $Y + ' && icacls \\\"%1\\\" /grant *S-1-3-4:F /t /c /l /q') -Verb runAs\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\runas]
@="Take Ownership"
"Extended"=-
"HasLUAShield"=""
"NoWorkingDirectory"=""
"Position"="middle"
"AppliesTo"="NOT (System.ItemPathDisplay:=\"C:\\\")"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\runas\command]
@="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\\\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\\\" /grant *S-1-3-4:F /t /c"
"IsolatedCommand"="cmd.exe /c takeown /f \"%1\\\" /r /d y && icacls \"%1\\\" /grant *S-1-3-4:F /t /c"

  1. Right click on the registry file and select "Run as administrator" (this will show the hidden "Take Ownership" menu for files within C:\Windows\System32.

  2. Click on ActionCenter.dll and ActionCenterCPL.dll and select "Take Ownership".

Method 2

  1. Right-click the file, folder or drive, that you want to take ownership of, then click Properties.

  2. Select the Security tab. Click the Advanced button.

Advanced settings

  1. In the Advanced Security Settings dialog, click Change link.

Change owner username

  1. Type in your account name and then click Check Names button. Click OK.

Select user or group

  1. Select Replace owner on sub containers and objects check box. Click OK.

Check the Replace owner on objects option

  1. When back to the Permissions window, under Group or user names, click your name. Under Permissions for Administrators, select Allow checkbox in the Full Control row, and click OK.

Add Full control

Windows 10