In this article, learn how to kill Antimalware Service Executable (MsMpEng.exe) in Windows 10.
If your systems got hanged or getting slow, you need to open Windows Task Manager to detect which one of our computer’s running program is responsible for that issue. Then you located it’s some “Antimalware Service Executable” program is the one who’s responsible for creating lag on your computer system by taking that much high amount of CPU or maybe Disk Usage. From the Processes tab in Task Manager, the process is named Antimalware Service Executable. Go to the Details tab, its file name is MsMpEng.exe.

So, let me explain first What Is Antimalware Service Executable?
Antimalware Service Executable is basically a part of Windows Defender which is a great antivirus software which helps your operating system to protect against spam pop-ups; security threats caused by spyware or some other kinds of malware too; slow performance. Because Windows Defender provides a Real-Time Protection feature and that’s the basic reason for this problem for creating that much system usage. If you need to use Bluetooth, it will begin consuming CPU and if you need to use a flash drive, it will again start hogging up CPU. Hence, this tutorial will show you four handy methods to get rid of this problem.
How to Kill Antimalware Service Executable in Windows 10
Method 1. Change Windows Defender’s Schedule
Step 1. Press Windows Key + R then type taskschd.msc in Run dialog box and click OK. This will open your Windows Task Scheduler.
Step 2. When the task scheduler appears, go to the following path:
Task Scheduler Library >Microsoft >Windows >Windows Defender
Step 3. Once when you get into Windows Defender Folder, find the Name called Windows Defender Scheduled Scan, click on it and that makes it highlight. Then click Properties.
Step 4. From the Properties windows, go to Conditions tab then uncheck all the mentioned condition. This will prevent that task to run automatically. Click OK to save changes.
Step 5. Now you will then reschedule it. From the right pane, you click Properties again then go to Triggers tab and click New. Here you follow the steps:
- Select the Monthly option or Weekly
- Then select the Day.
- Make sure it is enabled.
- Click OK to save changes
This will re-schedule Windows Defender to work as per your want.
Step 6. You repeat the same for the three other schedules: Windows Defender Cache Maintenance, Windows Defender Verification and Windows Defender Cleanup.
Method 2. Disabling Windows Defender
Turning off Windows Defender can help fix this problem as this was the only method that worked for many users. When using this way, I highly recommended you to install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) to replace Windows Defender on your system.
How to disable Windows Defender from Local Group Policy Editor:
Step 1. Press Windows Key + R, type in gpedit.msc in the Run dialog box then click OK. This will open the Local Group Policy Editor.
Step 2. From the Local Group Policy Editor, go to the following path:
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender
Step 3. Once you’re in the Windows Defender Folder, locate the setting named Turn off Windows Defender and double click it.
Step 4. Choose the Enabled option to disable Windows Defender. Click Apply > click OK to save changes.
Step 5. Lastly, restart your system and check to check if Windows Defender is disabled.
How to disable Windows Defender from Registry
Step 1. Press the Windows Key + R then type in regedit in the Run dialog box and click OK. This will open the Windows Registry.
Step 2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender
Step 3. Now, you locate a registry entry named DisableAntiSpyware, double-click to edit it and change its value to 1.
Note: If you can’t see a registry entry named DisableAntiSpyware, right-click on the blank and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Make sure that you do name your new key called DisableAntiSpyware and set the value to 1. Windows Defender will be disabled instantly.
Method 3. Adding Antimalware Service Executable to Windows Defender Exclusion List
By given that file path in your Windows Defender’s Excluded files and locations setting, it will tell Windows Defender to skip that location for scanning. To do that, follow these steps:
Step 1. Open Windows Task Manager by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ESC on your keyboard.
Step 2. In the list of running processors, you look for the Antimalware Service Executable process. After finding it, you right-click on it and select Open File Location option to see the full path of the executable.
Step 3. It will take you to the file MsMpEng. You will see “copy path” option from Home tab. You click this option to copy the location of the file MsMpEng path.
Step 4. Now you will enter that path in the Windows Defender to make Windows Defender aware about to skip that location while between the scan process. To do that, press Windows Key + I, select Update and Security > Windows Defender from the left pane. Now you scroll down and click Add an exclusion under Exclusions category.
Step 5. Now, you will see Exclude a file extension or Exclude a .exe, .com or .scr process, paste the path to MsMpEng.exe. Once you have added it, you will see appearing MsMpEng.exe in exclusions category.
Step 7. Come back to your Task Manager where you will see the problem has been resolved and now Antimalware Service Executable is not consuming even 1% of your CPU.
Method 4: Scan For And Delete Any Malware
If the issue still exists, there is a likelihood a malware has infected the MsMpEng.exe process. In this case, you should use MalwareBytes to scan for and delete any malware which could be present on your system.
You can see this video below to lean more how to solve 100% disk usage Antimalware Service Executable in Windows 10:
Hope something helps you. If you have any other Windows and Office related issues you can check for the solution in my Windows fix section.