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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]
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
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...
Why should you have to do that? Shouldn't a person who spends good money on a great machine just have it work? Embarrassing, Microsoft.
I tried to do this but options were greyed out. I am the administrator.
Hi mmo17, thanks for raising such an important issue, my 4GB ram laptop was running like a tortoise and I just found this guide where the guy is using a custom third part tool to turn the defender off, I know it's dangerous to not to use an Antivirus but I'm now using Avast antivirus after turning the defender off. BTW I'm using Windows 10 64-Bit.
I really think MS products sucks. If there's a virus that slows down a computer, it's Defender's job to clear this attack, not continuously spinning hard drive unto 30 minutes every time I boot the computer.
Why even bother to release product that does NOT work? The real problem with this useless gadget this I can't get rid of it, since instruction noted above does NOT work and its controls are disabled. This really is worse than old basic program with DOS written by uneducated, computer ignorant and college drop-out Bill Gates.
