The one called " Antimalware Service Executable ", linked to the MsMpEng.exe system file, is one of the most important processes of Windows 10, the one related to the Windows Defender antivirus that is part of the operating system.
This antivirus, successor of that Microsoft Security Essentials released several years ago for Windows 7, is a complete computer protection system that also makes the installation of an external program superfluous.
The Antimalware Service Executable process, visible in the task manager between Windows processes, is important because the one that keeps antivirus real-time protection active and, for this reason, is a process that consumes more memory than other background processes.
In some cases, then, especially during the computer startup phase, the antimalware process can go to occupy even 100% of the CPU.
To see the resource consumption of the Antimalware Service Executable process, you must press the CTRL Shift Esc keys together and then press on More details and scroll the list of processes until you find the one with this name.
By pressing on it, it is highlighted that it is the Windows Defender Antivirus service and then, clicking on it with the right button and going to the properties, which is generated by the MsMpEng.exe file.
In Windows 10 you can check the activities of Windows Defender by pressing the shield icon at the bottom right near the clock or by going to the Start menu, in Settings> Update and security> Windows Defender> Windows Defender Security Center .
Being a process related to system security, if it is discovered that the Antimalware Service Executable process is using a large amount of CPU or disk resources blocking the computer, it is necessary to worry because it may be the cause is a malware or simply that the Windows Defender automatic scanner is in operation right then.
High CPU usage may also be caused by installing an update or by opening a particularly large file which takes time for Windows Defender to check that it is not malicious.
However, note that Windows Defender is automatically configured to scan in the background only when the computer is idle and not in use, so if the antimalware service occupies 100% $ of the CPU while it is working there is certainly a problem or malware in circulation.
In these cases it can be useful to help the antivirus, if possible, with an antimalware scan of Malwarebytes Antimalware, which in detecting even unknown malware is the best of all.
You can disable the Windows Defender antivirus in Windows 10 by going to Settings> Update and Security> Windows Defender> Windows Defender Security Center> Virus and Threat Protection> Virus and Threat Protection Settings and turn off all switches, that of protection in real time and cloud protection.
However, this option can only be turned off temporarily if another antivirus is not installed.
You can also disable Windows Defender from the local settings policy: press the Windows + R keys together and run the gpedit.msc command and in the left side expand the sections Local Computer Policy> Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates> Windows Components> Windows Defender Antivirus .
Disabling the Windows Defender antivirus without installing another antivirus is, of course, not recommended and very risky for security.
With Windows Defender turned on, you can disable automatic scans by using the option to disable automatic Windows maintenance operations.
If you install another antivirus, Windows Defendrr is automatically disabled.
In this case, the Antimalware process remains present on the task manager, but does not take up CPU and memory.
