What Is Msmpeng.exe? Why Does It Have A High CPU Usage

If you often play around in the task manager, you might have noticed that the program msmpeng.exe always seems to have a high CPU usage. And if youre a curious person like me, you might also have noticed that you cannot end the task of this particular program.

So, what exactly is msmpeng.exe? A feature that the Windows OS incorporated since the time of Windows 7, msmpeng.exe is built-in antivirus software, often known as the Windows Defender. The Microsoft Malware Protection Engine (msmpeng.exe) runs in the background each time you start up Windows. It regularly scans your system for any form of threats, viruses, or malware.

So, here in this guide, we have mainly focused on helping you understand the functionality and the workflow of msmpeng.exe. By the end of this guide, you’ll be able to use your newfound knowledge to decrease its overall CPU usage as well. Let’s get right to it!

Table of Contents

Why does msmpeng.exe have high CPU usage?

As mentioned above, msmpeng.exe actively works in the background. So, whenever you download and install a new file on your system, msmpeng.exe scans it for possible worms and viruses.

If a virus is found, the particular file is transferred to the Quarantined sector. You then have the power to either delete or restore this file. So, this ultimately makes msmpeng.exe a resource-hungry application, taking a high CPU disk space.

Additionally, the msmpeng.exe program is known to scan its own folder too; C:\Program Files\ Windows Defender. So, this scan process of the Windows Defender is also responsible for the high CPU usage.

Other than that, low hardware resources can also influence msmpeng.exe to eat up much of your CPU disk space.

How to lower msmpeng.exe’s CPU usage?

Msmpeng.exe, also known as Antimalware service executable is known to slow down your computer at times. It comes pre-installed on your system and is also a reason for 100% disk usage.

Although you cannot end the task or the process formsmpeng.exe, there are a few workarounds you can follow to reduce its overall CPU usage. Listed below are all the methods you can follow to do so.

Prevent msmpeng.exe from scanning its own directory

Preventing the Windows Defender from scanning its own directory is known to reduce its overall disk usage. So, for this,

Press Win + I to open the Settings.
Select Privacy & Security from the left panel.
Go to Windows Security.
Navigate towards Virus & threat protection.
Click on Manage Settings that’s under Virus & threat protection settings.
Click on Add or remove exclusions that’s under the Exclusion menu.
Now, click the + sign beside Add an exclusion and select Folder.
Paste C:\Program Files\ Windows Defender on the address editor and Select Folder.
Then, click Yes when prompted.

Reschedule the Windows Defender scan

Rescheduling the Windows Defender to scan your system at a particular date, time, and frequency can limit its overall background activities. So, this will ultimately reduce the overall CPU usage and make your computer faster. Here are the steps to do so:

Press Win + R to open the run command box.
Type and enter taskschd.msc to open the Task Scheduler.
On the left panel, expand Task Scheduler Library.
Now, expand Microsoft followed by Windows.
From under Windows, click on Windows Defender.
Right-click on Windows Defender Scheduled Scan and select Properties.
Uncheck Run with highest privileges that’s located in the General tab.
Navigate towards the Conditions tab.
Uncheck every option box in the Conditions tab.
Navigate towards the Triggers tab.
Click on New.
Schedule the scan time as per your requirement and click OK.
Restart your computer.

Turn off real-time protection

Real-time protection is a feature provided by the Windows OS that scans your downloaded files for any viruses in real-time. That is, the file is scanned as soon as it is downloaded.

Hence, disabling the real-time protection can very well fix your issue. So,

Press Win + I to open the Settings.
Select Privacy & Security from the left panel.
Go to Windows Security.
Navigate towards Virus & threat protection.
Click on Manage Settings that’s under Virus & threat protection settings.
Toggle off the Real-time Protection option.

Turn off Automatic Sample Submission

The automatic sample submission feature is known to upload sample data to Microsoft as a part of their survey process for scanning threats on your computer.

So, if this feature is disabled, the overall CPU usage shall also reduce. You can do so by,

Press Win + I to open the Settings.
Select Privacy & Security from the left panel.
Go to Windows Security.
Navigate towards Virus & threat protection.
Click on Manage Settings that’s under Virus & threat protection settings.
Toggle off the Automatic sample submission option.

Install a third-party anti-virus software

Although Windows Defender is a pretty good built-in protection software, there are much better third-party antivirus applications available on the market.

Choosing a reliable antivirus can be a daunting task, however, upon our research, we have found that Kaspersky, Bitdefender, and Norton antivirus are some of the best in the market.

We don’t recommend any particular software ourselves, however, we understand the problem you are going through and have decided that a reliable third-party antivirus application is a good workaround for your issue.

Disable Windows Defender

Windows OS allows you to disable the Windows Defender completely, hence minimizing its CPU usage. It is a relatively safe process if you have another antivirus software installed on your computer.

Once you do so, follow the steps below to disable Windows Defender: