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Antimalware Service Executable High Disk, memory and CPU usage after 2018-03 updates

Anonymous
2018-03-29T00:21:32+00:00

Just did update yesterday 2018-03 updates and suddenly antimalware service executable takes all my disk, memory and CPU too high up to 100% every minute until now and Virus threat protection keeps coming out eventhough i'm not doing a scanning. This just happen AFTER the updates. Any idea ? tyvm

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-04-02T07:34:44+00:00

    Hi Louis,

    Antimalware Service Executable is one of the background-running services in Windows Defender. Antimalware Service Executable is running to scan the malware and spyware when you access them. It will detect if there’s anything harmful on your PC Aside from that, it also takes a background scan of your system for any viruses or worms. Its scanning relies heavily on your computer’s CPU, that’s why you find it’s eating the CPU usage on your Windows 10. To get this sorted, I suggest to follow the steps below:

    Method 1: Change Windows Defender’s schedule

    The error is mainly due to its real-time protection feature. Kindly follow the steps to  change Windows Defender’s schedule to fix it.****

    1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time to invoke the Run box. Type taskschd.msc and press Enter.
    2. Double-click on Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows.
    3. Double-click Windows Defender in Windows. Then double-click Windows Defender Scheduled Scan.
    4. Uncheck Run with highest privileges**.**
    5. Uncheck all the items in the Conditions section. Then click OK.

    Method 2: Add Antimalware Service Executable to Windows Defender exclusion list

    1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and I at the same time to open the Settings window.
    2. Click Update & security.
    3. Click Windows Defender. Then click Add an exclusion in Exclusions.
    4. Click Exclude a .exe, .com or .scr process
    5. Type MsMpEng.exe. Then click OK.

    Restart your PC and see if the issue persists.

    Feel free to post back should you have further concerns.

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-05-21T08:25:38+00:00

    This is slightly different now with the May 2018 update on the Home version.

    From Update & Security in Settings use now Windows Security then from there Open Windows Defender Security Centre.

    In Windows Defender Security Centrechoose Virus & threat protectionand from there Virus & threat protection settings. Scroll down to find Exclusions and click on Add or remove exclusions.

    Then continue similar to before:

    • Click Add an exclusion in Exclusions.
    • Choose process
    • Type MsMpEng.exe. Then click OK.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-08-09T20:38:33+00:00

    Hi Melowin,

    I appreciate the formatting of your post, but I don't think the content is useful.

    Method 1: This is a difficult and fragile hack for something that 1) should really be managed automatically by Windows these days, and 2) has a proper setting exposed already: Control Panel > Security and Maintenance > Maintenance > Change maintenance settings > Run maintenance tasks daily at [time].

    Method 2: You're saying Windows Defender chews up CPU by scanning it's own executable? Like some kind of recursion bomb? That's either laughably off-base, or a serious bug in Defender that the team should have at the very top of their agenda.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-10-06T14:09:43+00:00

    It's doesn't solve the problem. The service is eating memory over 500 MB. I really annoying that one.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-08-12T00:08:14+00:00

    The team SHOULD DEFINITELY have a look.  This darn thing is completely sucking up all of the CPU and Disk space - as shown in Task Manager with no apps running.

    100+ people found this answer helpful.
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