Antimalware Service Executable

[gdr_11]

This part of Windows Defender is constantly hogging 45% - 90% of my CPU capacity in Windows 10. I understand that I can turn it off completely or just turn off the real time monitoring, but I am not clear on how important this piece of protection software is.

If I turn this off, is there a good freeware alternative to provide real time protection with hogging memory? In the past I have used a number of anti malware programs but none with any great performance and all had their issues.

Right now I use Malwarebytes and have been pleased with this

[67Cuda]

How old is the computer? My computer doesn't seem to have an issue with Defender.

[DKenn]

Windows Security is a integrated component that cannot be removed. Which process is consuming the CPU? Is this when the computer is idle or during scans?

If one or more of your Windows Security (or any processes) processes are consuming over 45% CPU it is likely that there is either third-party software or OS corruption.

I would suggest opening a command-line (e.g. Windows PowerShell) and running the System File Checker to scan your Windows System Files. Checking for Windows updates may also be advantageous.

Always backup your files.

[gdr_11]

The PC itself is about 6 years old but I had a new hard drive installed and the system updated to Windows 10 a couple of years ago. When I have a slowdown in loading a program I check Task Manager and it shows the CPU usage bouncing up and down between 45-99 percent with the Antimalware Executable portion making up more than half of that. Not an issue when the computer is at rest so I assume it is doing real time checking of the program I am trying to load.

I guess it is time to take the PC into the PC doctor and have him run a complete tune up on it. Its overdue and he only charges 60 bucks

[SactoDoug]

I recommend you do two things first before you make any drastic changes. Type in the search field next to the start buttone "cmd". Then right click it and select "run as administrator". Execute the commands in bold below:

Windows Integrity Scan. This will go through all windows files and fix any that are corrupted.
SFC /scannow

Windows upgrade all installed programs. This will update your applications and some windows components.
winget upgrade --all


After you run those two commands restart your computer.