msmpeng.exe

B

Bill W

Recently I have noticed after rebooting my computer msmpeng.exe will run using over 90% of the processor. This will continue for several minutes and I'm not able to do anything. Research shows that this is related to Defender, but I'm running MS Security Essentials and Defender is not installed on my PC. Is it related to Security Essentials and is it anything I need to be concerned about. I also ready that it could be a well disguised virus, but I ran several virus scans and they all came up clean. Thank you for your help.
 
B

Bert Hyman

In "Bill W"
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<META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1
http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18928"></HEAD>
<BODY style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; PADDING-TOP:
15px"
id=MailContainerBody leftMargin=0 topMargin=0 CanvasTabStop="true"

What?
 
B

Bill W

Thank you. Defender is not installed, so it's MSE. Since my initial post,
I found that it also runs on my other XP computer after rebooting, but it's
not as noticeable because that PC has faster, multiple processors and
msmpeng is consuming a little more than 20%. The PC in question has a
single, slower processor and msmpeng is consuming around 90%. Thanks again
for your response. I feel better and will assume that msmpeng.exe isn't
anything I need to be concerned about.
 
P

PA Bear [MS MVP]

When (approx. date) did you install Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) and
was the computer fully-patched at Windows Update at the time?

What anti-virus application was installed before you installed MSE, was your
subscription still current, and did you uninstall it before you installed
MSE?

Has a(nother) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on the
computer?

Did a Norton or McAfee free-trial come preinstalled on the computer when you
bought it? (Doesn't matter if you never used or Activated it.)

=> Microsoft Security Essentials Support Forums <=
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/mse
 
B

Bill W

When (approx. date) did you install Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE)
and was the computer fully-patched at Windows Update at the time?

I installed it about 6 months ago and the computer was fully-patched at the
time
What anti-virus application was installed before you installed MSE, was
your subscription still current, and did you uninstall it before you
installed

I was using McAfee downloaded from Comcast before I installed MSE. The
subscription was current and I used the complete uninstall instructions and
tool supplied by McAfee via Comcast before installing MSE.
Has a(nother) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on the
computer?

Norton was installed, but I used the uninstall instructions and tool from
Norton via Comcast before installing McAfee. See above regarding the McAfee
uninstall before moving to MSE.
Did a Norton or McAfee free-trial come preinstalled on the computer when
you bought it? (Doesn't matter if you never used or Activated it.)

Norton was installed and I later upgraded it to the full version. Norton
then ran on the computer for several years before installing McAfee.

Thanks for your help
 

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