Intel CPU Performance Takes a Big Hit Due to Windows Defender Bug
If you're running Windows 10 or Windows 11 on an Intel processor, chances are your performance is being negatively impacted by a Windows Defender bug.
The problem was discovered(Opens in a new window) by TechPowerUp (TPU) associate software author Kevin Glynn. TPU is known for developing popular system utilities such as GPU-Z, MemTest64, ThrottleStop, and RealTemp. It was while Glynn was working on ThrottleStop that the Windows Defender bug reared its head.
According to Glynn's testing, Defender will "randomly start using all seven hardware performance counters provided by Intel Core processors." This causes excessive CPU time to be grabbed by Defender, which can equate to a significant performance drop for your system. The example Glynn gives is a "Core i9-10850K running at 5.00 GHz all-core loses 1000 Cinebench points (or 6%)."
The problem is solely caused by Windows Defender and therefore not a fault of Intel's chips. There's no official fix as that would require Microsoft to figure out why Defender is doing this, take the time to solve the problem, then release an update. Glynn hopes Microsoft will take notice now that he's identified there is a problem and if enough people start shouting about it.
In the meantime, a third-party fix is available if you don't mind installing some software. TPU's ThrottleStop v9.5(Opens in a new window) includes a feature you'll find in "Options" called "Windows Defender Boost." Enabling it sees ThrottleStop activate a programmable timer, which Windows Defender detects as user software trying to use one of the counters and reacts by ceasing to use all of them. TPU's new Counter Control(Opens in a new window) utility can also achieve the same result, but it does so using a "Reset"
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