How to stop Windows Defender from responding to pings

Hello Jamike,

Thank you for your question and for reaching out with your question today.

It's possible that the transition from McAfee to Windows Defender could have caused some changes in your system's firewall settings. While Windows Defender does provide a basic firewall functionality, it's always recommended to double-check and ensure that the appropriate settings are configured correctly.

Regarding the ping requests, by default, Windows Defender's firewall should block ICMP Echo requests (ping) unless you have explicitly allowed them. It's strange that you're still able to receive ping responses despite blocking ICMPv4-In and v6-In in Core Networking Diagnostics and File and Printer Sharing.

To further investigate this issue, you can try the following steps:

1. Verify Firewall Rules: Open Windows Defender Firewall settings and review the inbound rules to ensure that the appropriate rules are in place to block ICMP Echo requests. Look for any rules related to ICMP or ping and ensure they are set to block.
2. Third-Party Firewalls: Check if any remnants of the McAfee firewall or any other third-party firewall software are still active on your system. These could potentially override Windows Defender's settings. If any such software is present, consider uninstalling it or disabling its firewall functionality.
3. Network Adapter Settings: It's also worth checking the settings of your network adapter to see if there are any specific configurations allowing ping requests. Look for any advanced settings related to ICMP or ping and ensure they are set to block.
4. Windows Defender Configuration: Ensure that Windows Defender is up to date and fully enabled. Check if any features or components related to the firewall are disabled or not functioning properly.

I used AI provided by ChatGPT to formulate part of this response. I have verified that the information is accurate before sharing it with you.

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Best regards.

The rule that is set by the system when you allow File and Printer Sharing allows all ICMP connections. If you disable File and Printer Sharing or the rule explicitly then ping requests are blocked. Of course only if you set the firewall default to block.