Windows 10: Windows Defender Smartscreen Using Lots of CPU

Anytime I open Task Manager, the leading item is always Windows Defender Smartscreen using between 30 and 40 % CPU. Is that typical, or do I have some sort of conflict going on? If the latter, how to resolve it? Thanks.

:)

 

Microsoft Defender Smartscreen

Hi COLINGILBERT1,

Sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue. I'm an Independent Advisor and consumer of Microsoft products just like you. Let me help you with your concern.

Microsoft Defender SmartScreen checks downloaded files against a list of reported malicious software sites and known unsafe programs and against list of files that are well known and downloaded by many Windows users. If the file you downloaded is on the malicious
list or is not commonly downloaded it will show a warning, advising caution. If you believe that the file is not malicious and you trust the source then you can ignore the warning by clicking "Run anyway".

Refer to the below link for the benefits of Microsoft Defender SmartScreen.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/securi...

 

Windows Defender SmartScreen won't let me download ANYTHING.

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

Please provide some additional information, so that we can assist you better.

1. Which browser you are using to download the application?
   
2. What is the complete error message appears on your computer screen when you click on download?
   
   

We can try and perform few steps and see if it helps.

Step 1: You can refer the Microsoft article related

Windows Defender SmartScreen under the section
how can I download files reported as unsafe by Windows Defender SmartScreen in Internet Explorer 10 or Microsoft Edge.

Step 2: Try to disable SmartScreen.

1. Press Windows + S on your keyboard.
   
2. Click on Internet Options.
   
3. When the Internet Properties window opens, go to the
   Security tab and click Custom level.
   
4. Locate the Miscellaneous section. Now, locate Use
   SmartScreen Filter option and set it to disable. Click OK to save changes.
   
5. You can disable SmartScreen by going to the
   advanced tab and unchecking the Enable SmartScreen Filter option. After doing that, click
   Apply and OK to save changes.
   
6. Restart your computer to effect the settings.
   

Hope it helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed by clicking ‘Yes or No’.

Harish

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

Windows Defender SmartScreen cpu usage

My computer has been running slow and I noticed that Windows Defender SmartScreen is using 45-55% of my cpu capacity. I have Windows 10 and Norton anti-virus on the computer. I looked in the forums and it sounds like this should be off when running another
anti-virus program. Should happen automatically according to one thread, but it is definitely running. Went into Security & Maintenance where it shows to turn it off manually, but the “Change Windows SmartScreen settings” option is not on the left side to
click. Using “End task” in Task Manager but it keeps coming back. Do I need this when I have Norton installed? If not, where can I turn it off?