99-100% Disk Usage, Windows Defender Service

Mortiferon said:

Disk usage is intermittently 99-100% and Task Manager has pinpointed Windows Defender Service as the culprit. So, how should I deal with this? I'd rather not have to somehow disable it altogether (it won't even let me end the task) but I'm very concerned that this is going to prematurely kill my HDD, and I'd far rather deal with some malware than that. I prefer MBAM anyway...

Once so far, this has been severe enough to entirely lock the system up. I'd rather it not happen again.

Edit: This is not due to conflict between Win Defender and MBAM (not 'real-time').

Hi and welcome to Tenforums.

MBAM is an anti-malware program, while Defender is an anti-virus. MBAM works alongside AVs in harmony on a system - even the Pro (paid) version which is always active (as opposed to the free/passive version).

Personally, (and this is just my personal opinion), I would suspect that Defender is having difficulty with something lurking on your system.

One thing to do, would be to download and install a 3rd-party AV (like Avast Free, or the 30-day trial of ESET NOD), which will auto-disable Defender as it takes over. Once it is installed and fully updated, I would run a complete scan, including scheduling a boot-time scan (which can be found in the settings in Avast.)

If you have any problems installing Avast/ESET (or whatever program you choose), it could be a sign of something bigger.

You could also run the System File Check to make sure everything is intact.
SFC Command - Run in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

.

This is a known issue since Vista, MS is working on solving it, sometimes ... .

Try to add this to the exclusions: C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MsMpEng.exe

Windows Defender Exclusions - Add or Remove in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Other than that, all I can advise is to use a real antivirus and not this thing. MS apps are generally basic.