Solved Windows defender scans causing temporary freezes

[Bkshiroma]

I'm using Windows Defender, and I believe it's causing freezes on my system. What's happening is that I'll notice my system freezing, and I see a little black clock on the notifications flag which says "scheduled scan."

If I do almost anything with the computer, it will freeze. If I do a Control-alt-delete, it eventually (after 3-5 minutes) gets to the task manager. Sometimes the black clock disappears, sometimes it's still there, and the system then usually runs normally.

It is a pain, however. Is there a way to keep these scans from running except when I manually ask for one?

Also, is the antimalware service executable supposed to be running in the background all the time?

 

[DustSailor]

Yes, that would be located in the settings of Defender. You will need to find it on one of the different tabs. You can also 'limit CPU' power to a set percentage so that your computer doesn't get bogged down during scans, but they will take longer. Additionally, see this if you would like some suggestions on how to speed up your computer: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/37511-optimize-performance-windows-8-a.html

 

[Bkshiroma]

Found it. Had to go to the task scheduler, not Defender itself to find it, though. A little unintuitive.