Recent Discussions
High CPU Usage by Microsoft Defender Antivirus on Windows Server 2019 Azure VMs
Hello, I’m running into a recurring issue on Windows Server 2019 Datacenter VMs running in Azure where MsMpEng.exe (Antimalware Service Executable) consistently spikes CPU usage every day. Here’s what I’ve observed so far: Microsoft Defender pulls threat intelligence from the cloud continuously in real-time, in addition to multiple scheduled updates per day. Despite this continuous checking, I’ve noticed a consistent CPU spike only between 4:40 PM and 4:55 PM daily. During this time, Defender consumes 100% CPU. I’ve checked Task Scheduler and Defender scan settings — there are no scans or tasks scheduled during this period. Limiting CPU usage using Set-MpPreference -ScanAvgCPULoadFactor 30 has had no effect on these background maintenance routines. Automatic provisioning via Defender for Cloud is enabled on these Azure VMs, so the MDE agent installs and updates automatically. Logs from Microsoft-Windows-Windows Defender/Operational during the high CPU window: 10/2/2025 4:41:57 PM 2010 Microsoft Defender Antivirus used cloud protection to get additional security intelligence... 10/2/2025 4:41:57 PM 2010 Microsoft Defender Antivirus used cloud protection to get additional security intelligence... 10/2/2025 4:49:41 PM 1150 Endpoint Protection client is up and running in a healthy state... These logs confirm that Defender’s cloud intelligence updates and endpoint checks run exactly during the CPU spike window. Even though Defender continuously checks for cloud protection updates throughout the day, the CPU spike occurs only during this particular window. The pattern is consistent across multiple Azure VMs, suggesting this is part of Defender’s automated behavior. Questions for the community: Is this behavior expected for Azure VMs, or could it indicate a bug in Defender on Windows Server 2019? Is there a supported way to throttle, defer, or better manage CPU usage during these maintenance and cloud intelligence routines? Are there recommended best practices for always-on production environments in Azure to avoid performance degradation caused by Defender? Any guidance or advice would be really appreciated. Thanks, Nikunj
Registry modifications
If a file was downloaded, executed, and created a registry entry for persistence, is it enough to just delete the file from its original location? Or does the registry entry also need to be removed? What happens if it is not removed? If a malicious file created an entry under HKLM Run, HKCU Run, or RunOnce, and the file is later deleted but the registry entry is left behind, will the system still try to execute it at startup?
Endpoint menu missing in settings in security center
Hello, I'm trying to understand while endpoint menu is missing in security center. (security.microsoft.com). I currently have a Microsoft 365 E5 Security License but I can't access to endpoint menu. I'm currently logging with a global admin account with the "Microsoft 365 E5 Security" license assigned but I can't access to the endpoint menu at all. Am I doing something wrong? My current license is a trial license, could be the issue (I don't think so)? Thanks
MDE-Onboarding issue
Hello Community, while i am trying to onboard a windows 10 machine into MDE where there is already another AV running which is Kaspersky, i am facing that issue that Microsoft AV is not able to revert its status from disabled into running state (passive mode). even if i am trying to start the service manually, it will revert itself back to the disable status. Did anyone experience that issue before between Defender AV and Kaspersky?Ransomeware query
If any ransomware detection i need following query for advance hunting in defender Look for rapid file modification or creation or deletion 2. Rapid file encryption one 3. look for a ransom note 4. look for encryption algorithms 5. look for double extension 6. Also query for birth time of the file
Bad quality of Defender / Intunesdocubannoying
Whenever i need learning.microsoft.com, i found their describing A) very often menulinks, which does not exist (guess its rearranged) B) very often mistakes happen: in this article https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-endpoint/android-configure-mam several parameters are described with an integer value and the same parameter a Seconds time at the same place as boolean. And so many mistakes morebi found. Well: some companies wanna earn money maybe doing training with their customers, which is necessary onlY, as the docu is unreadable or written so boring that you fall a sleep and understand nothing. Please do more qualityCannot delete a tag added through an Asset rule
Hello, We had created in the past an asset rule to assign a tag to a few machines. Now we are trying to remove the tag but we can't find the right way. We have delete the Asset rule. (it was turned off more than 2 months ago) When I go to the machine details and click on 'Manage tags', I can see a section called 'Manual tags' (there I can add remove tags from the console) and a section called 'Rule-based tags' with the description 'Rule-based tags are automatically added to devices based on rules that you create. You can add, edit or delete a rule in Manage rules.' Going through powershell and the API, it doesn't work either. Even getting the details from a machine only shows the manual tags. How do we remove then such a tag ? Thanks in advance for your help. Marc
Azure site recovery cache storage identified with mallware
Hello, I have enable Azure Site recovery on multiple servers. I am using a premium storage account for the cache data required for the replication. Defender is keep being trigger telling that he is detection different Malwares by temporary files that are generated on the cache storage account generated by the replication. The servers, that get replicated, do not detect any mallware on them. What is the reason and what is the solution? Is this a normal behaviour? Thank you
how to disable Defender on Windows Server with tamper protection enabled
As a third-party security vendor, when our users enabled tampering protection on Windows Server 2022, we were unable to disable Defender through group policy as before, which resulted in conflicts between third-party anti malware and Defender. Of course, Defender for Endpoint is not onboarded in the system because users do not want to pay for two sets of antivirus software. So in this situation, can only users manually turn off tampering protection? But this is clearly unfriendly for large-scale systems. In addition, installing third-party antivirus software on Windows Server systems that have onboarded Defender for Endpoint seems to have no way to put Defender into passive mode if tampering protection is enabled. We urgently hope that someone can provide some suggestions on this issue!How to fetch dynamic tags in Defender for Endpoint (Machines API or KQL)?
Hi, I'm trying to retrieve all unique tags (both manual and dynamic) in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and then identify the currently active devices associated with each tag. I have tried below Machines API (/api/machines): This only returns manual tags (machine.tags) and does not include dynamic tags. Advanced Hunting – DeviceInfo table: This seems to contain both manual and dynamic tags, but: There are duplicate entries for the same device. It's not clear how to filter for active devices only or how to get a clean mapping of tag → devices. I need guidance on how to Retrieve all unique tags (manual + dynamic)? Map these tags to the list of currently active devices (without duplicates)? Is there any API or KQL query that can provide this cleanly? Any advice, best practices, or sample queries would be greatly appreciated!
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