Comments on: Microsoft Security Essentials MsMpEng.exe using high CPU Time

By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:17:45 +0000

@Denise
Yes, in the Settings tab within MSSE. Click on the left “Excluded Files & Locations”, then add each of those paths to that list. (which is empty by default)

I hope this helps solve your issues. As of now, I’ve seen it fix a few systems, but not all. Probably because MSSE wasn’t really to blame, though it looked like it was. And I agree, its really stupid! If this truly is the case, that they don’t exclude from their own locations, or that MSSE is bogged down by accessing files in use by its own processes. However, not enough is known to say for sure. Maybe their program knows better even without the exclusions, we don’t know. But if it fixes even one system by adding them, I say try it! It can’t hurt! :)

By: Denise C

Denise C — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 03:48:17 +0000

@greg–(or whoever has the correct answer):
“…what I found in that Google search was that you need to add the MSSE directories in C:\ProgramData to the exclusion list. WHAT!!??? Are you kidding me? MSSE doesn’t already exclude itself? Come on MS!! I really like MSSE, but that’s pretty stupid.

I went ahead and added these to MSSE exclusions:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Security Essentials

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Essentials…”

When I open up MSSE, and go to the settings tab, in the box on left hand side there is a list to select from ie,Scheduled Scan, Default Action, Real-Time Protection etc…then there is these three: Excluded Files & locations, Excluded File Types, & Excluded processes….

My QUESTION is this: Where do I go to add the following–Is it within MSSE??–If not, where?:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Security Essentials

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Essentials

I’m sorry to sound so stupid but if you could just lead me in the right direction and tell me what to do step by step I would be forever grateful :)
Thanks in advance
Denise C.

By: asshole

asshole — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:04:45 +0000

by “c:\programdata” do you mean “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft”? i run winxp and this is the only location i have “microsoft antimalware”.

@asshole (nice name!)
Yes, in vista/7 c:\programdata is a hidden/system folder where programs put settings and things, among other things. It used to be “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data” in XP, yes.

By: Denise C

Denise C — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:03:00 +0000

Hi there..I too am having trouble with this but when I opened up MSSE there are 3 different exclusions to pick from. I am not really a newbie but when it comes to these stuff I am. So my question:
Where the hec do I enter this stuff??…LOL
Please explain in layman terms. IE. go here then go here click on here click on there etc…
thanks a bunch.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:40:59 +0000

I haven’t checked, but that does look correct for XP.

By: vegtabill

vegtabill — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:07:44 +0000

Greetings! I am trying your tweak on an XP machine. It appears one would need these paths for XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware

and

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft Security Essentials

Sound about right? Thanks for this info… very helpful indeed!

By: ehidden

ehidden — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:24:58 +0000

worked 100%. was experiencing high cpu usage from MSMPENG.exe Was watching results in resouce viewer (Vista), added those directories as mentioned. CPU and disk usage dropped to almost zero. Thank you very much.

By: r00m

r00m — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:04:59 +0000

I have Win7 Ultimate x86 and had the same issues as u guys. Added those directories into the exclusion list and voila – everything comes back to normal. Thanks!!

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:23:26 +0000

Thanks for sharing your comments!
I hope that works for you too, and let me know how it works. The other day though, I ended up removing MSSE, because I kept having slow-downs on the system. MsMpEng.exe wasn’t hogging too much CPU, but it was still constantly working, and using around 20% and 120 or more Mb’s or RAM. I have a T9400 CPU and 4Gb’s of RAM, why is MSSE using so much though, and causing my system to hover around 20% CPU usage? I have it running on multiple systems, but just this bogs down my laptop.

Now, another process I have running and using a lot of time is CrashPlanService.exe. That’s my backup program, which I LOVE! and that hasn’t caused me any issues before, for over a year now. I even excluded that program and data files from MSSE in hopes that it wouldn’t conflict. So here’s the thing, I removed MSSE, and guess what? System hum’s along with very little CPU time. Maybe jumps around at 2% to 5%, with tiny bumps to 10 or 15% once in a while. That’s kind of normal, and the system moves along much more quickly. And yes, that’s with my backup program still running.

Anyway, hope you have better luck! I’d rather just not use AV than deal with the slow downs. Of course, I don’t think I’ve ever had a virus. Clean lots for my clients, but I know what *NOT* to do!

By: Hu

Hu — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:07:33 +0000

I tried your tweak that you mentioned and I really hope it will make a difference. Microsoft Security Essentials is a program with a good interface, however, the antimalware service executable is unforgivable. On a regular computer, it will hog the cpu when you are doing any task. Simply opening the explorer window will cause it to rise up to 6 percent and then back to zero.

Perhaps, your tweak might work because the program is updating itself? If the program is simultaneously updating its definitions and scanning its definitions, it might cause more cpu problems.

So far, there doesn’t seem to be any issue with this tweak. I’ll monitor the progress of the program for several days and conclude whether there is a difference.