Can one prevent Antimalware Executable to start hogging CPU for extended periods each time some network adapter gets active?

The fact that Windows as a company does not find this completely embarrassing is appalling to me. I've had 10 year old laptops that run better than my Inspiron 15 7000 series because of this horrendous oversight by Microsoft. Extremely embarrassing...

One of the most annoying habits in Windows 8 is, that the built-in "Antimalware Service Executable" (part of "Windows Defender") starts hogging my device's CPU with 60-70% (and 100% disk) for extended periods EACH AND EVERY time after I wake it up.

I wouldn't mind if it starts doing its business IN THE BACKGROUND but when I wake my device up from standby it's usually to get something done NOW and thus I find it increasingly unacceptable, that the system is always taken over by Window's defender exactly then and for up to several minutes! If I don't find a solution soon to throttle this beast, then I will disable Defender altogether!

What I noticed is, that this process seems to be actually triggered not by the system waking up, but by the network adapter becoming active. And actually, this happens each and every time ANY network adapter gets active! E.g. if my system has NO network connection at all and I plugin the network cable the Antimalware Service Executable starts. When - after it has settled again - I additionally enable Bluetooth then the Antimalware Service Executable starts its hogging business again. And if I then additionally enable the WLAN a few minutes later, it will AGAIN start to consume CPU!

So: can one decouple this? Running a scan ONCE after (re-)starting it is definitely enough, especially if Defender hasn't downloaded any new signatures since the last run! And, second, can one make Defender convince to strictly run in the background ONLY?

Michael

[Moved from Windows]

Wait for 5-10minutes, it will cooldown, works for me on win 10

I don’t think so, KAKA\_112 .

• The problem is not with a "Full Scan Feature" that’s been scheduled by the user.
• Unchecking the AC power condition doesn’t “unschedule” anything.
• Adding a weekly trigger doesn’t “reschedule” anything. It would only add another Quick Scan that runs weekly, in addition to the Quick Scan that’s already being triggered every day by Automatic Maintenance. The Windows Defender Scheduled Scan task is a Windows System task that’s managed by Windows Automatic Maintenance. You shouldn’t be touching it.
• Hopefully, “rescheduling” the other three Windows Defender maintenance tasks to run on a weekly basis (worst idea yet) would just add another instance of the task – because if it actually put these tasks on a weekly schedule it would seriously impede the maintenance workflow. These tasks were designed to run daily.
• And the embedded “PRO TIP” for running Reimage Plus… well that should tell you everything you need to know about the author’s credibility.

It’s unfortunate that the Microsoft Community doesn’t provide us with any  kind of “recovery options” for dealing with threads like this, that get off to a bad start, and then go downhill from there. But I guess we should really blame Microsoft for all the confusion, since they failed to provide users with any kind of documentation at all for Automatic Maintenance, and also neglected to lock down the Automatic Maintenance tasks in order to prevent them from being turned into a workshop for stupid hacks.

In case anyone is interested, here’s the correct way to reschedule the Windows Defender Scheduled Scan task (the Automatic Maintenance scan):

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect\_defender-protect\_start/windows-10-how-do-i-set-windows-defenders-scan/f399bb87-37c9-4a74-bb35-1d7e3d3c2436

But truth be told, the Automatic Maintenance scan doesn't really make for a very good “scheduled scan”, because it won’t run “on schedule” if you’re using your PC at the scheduled time. If you keep busy on the PC, Automatic Maintenance will just sit back and wait for you to stop before starting the scan, in order to keep the maintenance tasks from interfering with your work. So if you're looking for the old-fashioned kind of scheduled scan, that actually gets going at the scheduled time, and runs without interruption – then you’ll need to set up your own scheduled task:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect\_defender-protect\_scanning/how-do-i-set-windows-defender-to-a-custom-auto/ec19aab4-10ce-4f41-9990-343056fd104f

GreginMich

I recently resolved this issue by modifying the "schedule" of Windows Defender. Anyone, willing to try that can attempt the steps listed at antimalware service executable

Jeffrey,

Thanks for your help with this.

I had Microsoft support remote into my computer and they changed my virtual memory to 3456KB.

I have not had this problem since.

I think that fixed it for me.

Thanks,

Tony