How do I stop Windows 10 Antivirus From Running Background Scans? Task Schedular> Microsoft> Windows>Window Defneder> Windows Defender Scheduled Scan> "Disable" in sidebar>. If you just want to keep an eye on your background scans, you can also see the last run time of the scheduled scan in the Scheduler, and in the sidebar you can "Enable All Tasks History". Of related interest, you can use the Event Viewer ...