Windows AntiVirus is removing files even though I have it turned off?!?

First off, thank you to all the people who make up spaces like this and are willing to offer help to those of us who get "lost in the weeds" at a certain depth.

I've been trying to deal with a few files that windows is deeming malicious but aren't. I've turned off everything I can in the Windows Security area, yet, when I try to use or move the file around, Windows Security is still somehow grabbing it and disposing of it even though it shouldn't be able to. How can it be still active everything's been toggled off?

I'm on build 23H2 (22631.4391) using Windows 11 Home Edition.

Windows Security has several features, once in awhile I get a notice about something is not commonly downloaded and have to determine whether to continue or not.

windowstomysoul said:

Windows Security is still somehow grabbing it and disposing of it

Click to expand...

I can confirm this to be true. Despite group policy settings, toggling off every single item in windows security, stopping everything I can find running in task manager and stopping all the services, SOMETHING in windows security still takes over and removes any file it deems suspicious whether or not the user wants it to. It removes the file without giving a user the option or the time to add the file to exclusions.
Working in safe mode doesn't help either, as parts of windows security still run in safe mode.
To make matters, worse, defender can not be uninstalled.

I haven't tried it as I gave up, but maybe excluding entire folders prior to installing an app would work, both source and destination.
Just another piece of my machine where MS has taken any control I had away.