How to change Windows Defender’s max CPU usage during scans

Microsoft’s default and best cyber-security utility, Windows Defender, is a consumer’s primary line of defense when it comes to cyber-protection. If you are running Windows 10 on an older computer, you might notice that Windows Defender uses a large amount of CPU when running scans. Today we are going to share “How to change Windows Defender’s max CPU usage during scans.”

How do I change Windows Defender’s maximum CPU usage?

There are three methods to change Windows Defender’s maximum CPU usage.

• Change Windows Defender’s maximum CPU usage using PowerShell.
• Change Windows Defender’s maximum CPU usage using the registry
• Change Windows Defender’s maximum CPU usage using Group Policy

Method 1: Change Windows Defender’s maximum CPU usage using PowerShell

1. First, open the PowerShell {Admin}
2. You can right-click the Start button and choose PowerShell (Admin) from the list.
3. Now, type the following command in PowerShell (Admin) or copy-paste it as follows:
4. Get-MpPreference | select ScanAvgCPULoadFactor
   • If you do this, you will see the current Windows Defender CPU utilization percentage.
5. Type or copy-paste the following commands to change the value:
6. Set-MpPreference -ScanAvgCPULoadFactor <percentage>

Note: Please note that the percentage value needs to be between 5 and 100. If you set it to 0, you will remove the CPU limit, and Windows Defender will be able to use the entire CPU resource.

Method 2: Change Windows Defender’s maximum CPU usage using the registry

1. First, open the run.
2. To launch the Run Dialogue Box, press the Windows + R keys.
3. Now, type in regedit and press Enter (this will open the Registry Editor).
4. Go to the following key in the registry:
5. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Policies/ Microsoft/Windows Defender/Scan
6. After that, modify or create AvgCPULoadFactor as a 32-bit DWORD value.
7. To switch from decimal to decimal, switch to the value editor.
8. Set the value of the data to a value between 5 and 100.

To revert back to the previous settings, simply delete the DWORD created, and everything will go back to the previous settings.

Method 3: Change Windows Defender’s maximum CPU usage using Group Policy

1. First, open the run.
2. To launch the Run Dialogue box, press the Windows + R keys.
3. Type gpedit.msc into the search box and hit Enter to start the Group Policy Editor.
4. Go to the computer configuration page.
5. Follow this path:
6. Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Microsoft Defender Antivirus/Scan
7. Then double-click the Set the maximum CPU percentage during a scan policy option.
8. Enable the feature.
9. Under Specify the maximum CPU utilization percentage during a scan, enter the desired CPU limit.
10. Then select Apply.
11. To continue, click OK.