Windows defender has 100% disk activity in Windows 10

My computer is running Windows 10. I have kept Windows defender on as it was light weight and just worked in past versions of Windows.

However, in Windows 10.. I find that for about 5-10 minutes of resuming from hibernate, multiple msmpeng.exe processes cause disk usage to spike to about 100%. Obviously, its running a scan.

How can I stop the Windows defender process from running immediately after powering on my computer? Can I keep real time scanning on and still delay the rage inducing behaviour caused by Windows Defender?

abjbhat

Posted 2015-09-23T13:32:06.997

Reputation: 267

2Do you have Steam installed on your computer? – EntMobSec – 2015-09-23T15:58:38.723

This may be normal if the scheduled scan task has been missed, check Control Panel>Admin Tools>Task Scheduler>Windows>Windows Defender, check the "Windows Defender Scheduled Scan" task settings, they may not be set for your needs. – Moab – 2015-09-23T21:47:25.057

@OfflineFiles: What has Steam have to do with it? (And how to fix it, it does??) – Protector one – 2016-08-29T20:09:51.883

It was a common issue at the time I wrote that – EntMobSec – 2016-09-06T11:53:15.607

Answers

To disable this behavior, try these. For some genius idea, that file is scanning itself. I am sorry but I really can't explain why is that happening. Adding it to the exclusion list, fixed for mines and for my friends. That's how I came to that conclusion. I have also experienced similar situation and this worked.

Anyway, let's fix it!

Open Task Manager, and right click the "Antimalware Service Executable" and choose open file location.

Once you opened file location, you must the copy the directory from the address bar.

Now, go to Windows Defender , go to Settings > Excluded files and locations.

In first box, paste the path and click Add The path will show up on the second box Save changes and your problem must be fixed. Please note that this procedure is a workaround, it reduces the protection, it excludes scanning the mentioned path. If that's not a problem, go ahead and give it a try.

Regards.

Akshay

Posted 2015-09-23T13:32:06.997

Reputation: 103

How do you know its scanning itself? – Moab – 2015-09-23T21:52:54.483

@Moab, adding the exclusion fixed for mines and for my friends. That's how I came to that conclusion. – Akshay – 2015-09-24T10:01:09.967

Ah, add this info to your answer please. – Moab – 2015-09-24T11:46:28.883

Should this bug be reported to Microsoft? – None – 2016-12-29T19:20:26.687

-1

I went into widows defender settings and excluded C Drive. My copy / paste operation went from around 8.5 minutes for 121 Mb to 1.25 minutes Copy operations were in the 1.5 - 4Mbps range, not the 100kbps range.

There is an app to disable Windows defender on windows 10, here. I have no experience of this app.

http://winaero.com/blog/nodefender-disable-windows-defender-in-windows-10-with-few-clicks/

Flugan Dvorkian

Posted 2015-09-23T13:32:06.997

Reputation: 11

2This solution seems extremely unsafe as most viruses will install on your C: drive. Excluding your drive from Windows Defender would allow lots of security issues unless you run another antivirus software – Aserre – 2016-09-27T09:53:04.667