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My system regularly crashes with the following error in the error log

Windows successfully diagnosed a low virtual memory condition. The following programs consumed the most virtual memory: MsMpEng.exe (6628) consumed 30782681088 bytes

It's ALWAYS MsMpEng that causes this, and there's clearly some kind of memory leak going on for it to consume 31GB of virtual memory. I'm past the point of caring about whether it works, crashing my system sometimes several times a day is worse than any virus that Windows Defender is claiming to protect against (I don't use this machine for anything financial etc anyway)

I turned off Real-Time Protection and that seems to work for a few days... then the system crashes again and when I look at the Defender settings it's back on. So I can't even disable Defender - again, worse than a damn virus.

Short of installing Ubuntu, how do I make MsMpEng.exe leave me alone permanently?

Jon Story
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  • You may try second and third method from [this](https://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-10/what-is-msmpeng-exe/)!, Regedit method seems quite enough but if it still doesn't solve your issue then you may try 3rd method called group policies! – Mr.Online Apr 04 '21 at 13:48
  • Simply install another antivirus program then the MsMpEng.exe process should be gone. – Aenfa Apr 04 '21 at 15:56

1 Answers1

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Windows Defender is built right into Windows and is not completely removable.

First repair method: DISM and SFC

(1) Open cmd.exe with Run as Administrator.

(2) DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup

(3) DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth

(4) SFC /SCANNOW

(5) Restart when all the above is complete and test.

Second repair method if the first fails: Windows 10 Repair

First make a new, test Windows User Profile (Account). Log into the new Account and see if Windows Defender crashes. The Windows Profile may be damaged.

Second, if the Profile is apparently OK, do the Repair Install. There are 3 methods below. Start with Keep Everything and then go from there.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Windows 10 is running, so click on the Download button (not Upgrade Button) and select Run. If the Repair will not run as per above, use the Download button to create a USB Windows Installation key, then run Setup on the USB Key.

This will launch the Repair and proceed normally. There are 3 ways to proceed, according to the severity of the error.

(1) Keep Everything: Best if it works and your computer comes back just the way you had set it up except repaired. Always have a backup, but generally nothing will be lost.

(2) Keep Data: Necessary if the operating system damage is extensive. Keeps the User Profile and makes software install quite easy. Always have a backup, but data is not usually lost.

(3) Keep Nothing: Deletes the User Profile and all else and is essentially a fresh install. Be certain you have backed up all your data. "Keep Nothing" is necessary if the User Profile is damaged, because broken User Profiles cannot be repaired and it is generally easier to back up and start over if the User Profile is damaged. It depends on the precise situation.

John
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    John, you make some **great** contributions to the Super User community, but the question still needs to be asked: do you *ever* check for duplicates before you answer? It certainly seems like you don't. – Run5k Apr 04 '21 at 16:18
  • Run5k - nice to see you. I have not seen you for a long while. I try to check for close duplicates, but I did not see a good match here. I will look more closely. Thanks. – John Apr 04 '21 at 16:55
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    @John - It seems like you have submitted this same answer multiple times to very similar questions. If a previous answer you submitted, answer the author's question (In Your Opinion), you should be flagging the question as a duplicate. [27 answers with the phrase "DISM and SFC"](https://superuser.com/search?q=user%3A1079976+%22+DISM+and+SFC%22) and [67 times you have suggested the RestoreHealth solution](https://superuser.com/search?q=user%3A1079976+%22DISM.exe+%2FOnline+%2FCleanup-Image+%2FRestorehealth%22) – Ramhound Apr 04 '21 at 18:54
  • That is because the repair answer I use does in fact apply to multiple situations. That is one of the ways Windows 10 works. The questions are often very different but the method of repair is quite similar. I don’t find that aspect unusual. – John Apr 04 '21 at 20:00