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Antimalware Service Executable - Windows 8.1 Hogging CPU and disk.

Didge3
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I'm not certain when this started happening but it was quite some time ago, at the time I was in the middle of Uni though and gave up troubleshooting it at the time.

I have Windows 8.1 installed on an SSD, all the latest updates are installed etc. 

I use Windows Defender as my antivirus (who doesn't anymore?)

Now if you google my issue lots of other people seem to have it too, but I can't find a clear explanation or a solution to it. 

 

When my computer is idle for a period of time the CPU and disk usage are swamped by Antimalware Service Executable, which is Windows Defender doing what it should, running maintenance tasks during idle periods, however its supposed to immediately drop what its doing if the user starts doing anything, this is where the problem starts - it does not stop. It'll hog 70-90% of my CPU for 5mins or so before eventually letting up, this is usually accompanied by high disk usage too. 

 

Now my PC has always had another issue but I've never linked them before until recently when I resumed trying to troubleshoot my issue and found somebody else explained their issue which is awfully similar to mine. When I sleep my computer, it usually resumes itself for some reason without any input (everybody is out so nobody has touched it), resume from sleep on input devices are switched off in the BIOS, if I sleep it I can't get it to resume without pressing the power button itself, wiggling the mouse or stabbing the keyboard do nothing. So why does it resume itself? Windows Defender is why, according to a post on another forum the network adapter is somehow triggered when any new device connects to the network which resumes the computer, immediately Antimalware Service Executable is hogging the CPU and disk. 

So I tested this theory, with my computer put to sleep and no programs running but still wired into the network, I turned my sisters laptop on, as soon as the laptop connected to the Wi-Fi my desktop woke up from sleep. I did the same test again but unplugged the ethernet to my desktop, it remained asleep this time.

 

I've read things such as Defender is trying to scan itself so put the Windows Defender exe in the excluded file locations, I've done this. It had absolutely no effect, I also struggle to believe even Microsoft would oversee something so stupid... 

 

Has anybody any insight into this other than ditch Defender and use another program? I cannot for the life of me work this out?? 

Sorry for the long post but its hard to explain whats going on here.... 

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I suppose it takes these 5 minutes to stop whatever it was doing. Depending on your CPU and hard disk it can take a long time.

Windows Defender doesn't work in the way that Norton (for example) works. Norton supposedly makes use of idle time scheduling too and begins tasks when the computer is idle but on user interruption Norton continues to finish the task whilst the user is doing other tasks. Defender is supposed to immediately interrupt what its doing when the user even so much as moves the mouse, it shouldn't take more than ~10seconds to stop what its doing. 

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Windows Defender doesn't work in the way that Norton (for example) works. Norton supposedly makes use of idle time scheduling too and begins tasks when the computer is idle but on user interruption Norton continues to finish the task whilst the user is doing other tasks. Defender is supposed to immediately interrupt what its doing when the user even so much as moves the mouse, it shouldn't take more than ~10seconds to stop what its doing. 

Interesting... and Windows is up-to-date? And this is Windows 8 we're talking about?

LTT's unofficial Windows activation expert.
 

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Interesting... and Windows is up-to-date? And this is Windows 8 we're talking about?

Yes 8.1. All updates installed. It's quite a widespread issue from google searches but I can't find a solution. Lots of the threads end with, 'I turned Defender off and got X antivirus instead' 

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Yes 8.1. All updates installed. It's quite a widespread issue from google searches but I can't find a solution. Lots of the threads end with, 'I turned Defender off and got X antivirus instead' 

Sounds odd... I can only suggest reinstalling Windows.

LTT's unofficial Windows activation expert.
 

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