Before deciding whether to disable it, IT consulting services may help determine if your third-party antivirus is performing at better efficiency than Windows Defender. That said, many people already have a third-party antivirus running on top of Windows Defender. Disabling msmpeng.exe puts your computer at risk of contracting digital viruses that would otherwise have been dealt with quietly in the background. Keep in mind that without additional antivirus, Windows Defender is the only thing standing between your computer and malware. Some users may find that disabling it will provide a needed boost in system performance. While this is an essential program that keeps your computer safe, it has been known to misbehave. This is the program that detects malicious code of all kinds and then decides whether to delete or quarantine it. Msmpeng.exe, which stands for Microsoft Malware Protection Engine, is the core of Microsoft's Windows Defender antivirus service. Antimalware Service Executable? What Is That? In this article, you'll learn whether your computer is affected by this executable, and how to fix it. Specifically, the antimalware service executable. But don't stress, there may be an unexpected culprit: Window Defender. You've closed background programs, done a restart to clear the RAM, and run system's diagnostics to figure out what's going on.įor anyone who isn't familiar with IT support services, this might be a hair-pulling moment. It's happening again: Your computer has suspiciously high CPU usage.