Microsoft security essentials and windows defender

[tomyrush]

I recently had to reinstall win xp - sp3 and all of the attendant fixed.

Suddenly a process MSMPEng.exe began taking over my system. MEMPEng is evidently part of windows defender and has a very bad reputation. This had not been happening before the reinstall of XP sp3 and their fixes.

I run Microsoft Security Essentials and it was my understanding that it did not use windows defender.

Is it safe to uninstall windows defender and run with Microsoft Security Essentials?

Thanks

Tom

[PaulB]

-snip- ...has a very bad reputation. Is it safe to uninstall windows defender and run with Microsoft Security Essentials?

If you are concerned about its reputation, you'll be disappointed to learn that MsMpEng.exe is also the main process of Microsoft Security Essentials.

[JoeP]

You do not need to uninstall Windows Defender. When you install MSE it automatically disables Windows Defender and takes over that function.

JOe

[tomyrush]

then why does task mgr show it running at 90+% of cpu for minutes at a time. I'm sorry but I have had MSE for a long while and this is the first time msmpeg.exe has taken over my system?

It is shutting down just about everything.

Tom

[HansV]

Have you opened Microsoft Security Essentials to check whether it is running a full scan? (Although even during a full scan it shouldn't use much CPU capacity)

[tomyrush]

I have it set to run a full scan once a week at 2am on Sunday morning.

I turned off "monitor file and program activity on the computer.

Tom

[HansV]

You should eventually turn that on again - it's the runtime protection component of MSE.