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Antimalware Service Executable using too much memory and CPU

Anonymous
2022-12-29T17:56:02+00:00

I have a Windows 10 computer. I have the same problem as many other users, the Antimalware Service Executable using too much memory and CPU. I have already followed the steps here

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/antimalware-service-executable-high-disk-memory/cc35dee2-032c-4e39-a04d-9a94c7964b0d and here

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/all/antimalware-service-executable-high-memory-not/04f67e22-2ba9-4304-93cf-638d056b0509?LastReply=true

without any success. There doesn't seem to be any good solution online. It is also ridiculous that I cannot stop the process if I want to. I'm the only owner of this computer. I also tried installing a third party anivirus but that didn't help either! What should I do?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

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  1. Ramesh 176.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2022-12-31T03:10:02+00:00

    Svchost.exe is a host process that runs a set of services. It shouldn't be terminated. Re-run the trace for 60 seconds. Upload the PowerShell output (for the top 100 processes) along with the output of the following command:

    tasklist /svc

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-12-30T19:10:48+00:00

    Defender is still eating up a lot mo memory even at a clear boot. I ran the performance analyzer and the report only mentioned svchost.exe. Trying to turn off that one made my system unstable and crashed windows. What to do next?

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-12-30T18:44:53+00:00

    I had already done those steps, no help!

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  4. Kapil Arya 37,826 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2022-12-30T06:38:47+00:00

    Hello,

    See if this video fix helps you (works with Windows 10):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1IslvxO6J0

    Let us know if this helps!

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  5. Ramesh 176.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2022-12-29T18:18:27+00:00

    Hi Danyel,

    A third-party program/service (that frequently triggers the on-demand scanner) may be the culprit. You can start a clean boot by turning off all third-party services and startup programs using MSCONFIG

    How to perform a clean boot in Windows Image

    (Source: Microsoft)

    (If your problem does not occur while the computer is in a clean boot environment, then you can determine which startup application or service is causing the problem by systematically turning them on or off and restarting the computer.)

    Additional Information

    Please check out the following tweet by the Product Manager for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

    Paul (DEFENDER) on Twitter: "This. When you observe msmpeng.exe high CPU usage. It’s most likely a symptom, not the disease. Diagnosis helps." / Twitter: https://twitter.com/Threatzman/status/1575654650644402182

    SwiftOnSecurity on Twitter: "Mystery: CPU fan at max, high Defender usage, but no current scan. Launch New-MpPerformanceRecording -recordto c:\1.etl , run for bit, Get-MpPerformanceReport c:\1.etl -topprocesses 100 Result: Dell SupportAssist was poking all EXE files on drive, triggering on-access scans." / Twitter: https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/1575625955766194176

    Running Microsoft Defender performance trace might help. See Performance analyzer for Microsoft Defender Antivirus

    Additionally, a ProcMon trace will help you determine which program is triggering the on-demand scanning.

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