Recommended List for Defender Exclusions for Windows?

I was reading elsewhere that some native and legitimate applications (processes) cause Windows Defender to use too much resources.

It was suggested to add them to the Windows Defended (process) exclusion list.

Does anyone have their own recommended list they would like to add to this thread?

## Turn Off Windows Defender Real-time Protection
# Privacy & seecurity > Windows Security > Virus & thread protection > Virus & thread protection settings > Manage settings > Real-time protection
[Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::SetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Real-Time Protection", "DisableRealtimeMonitoring", 0x01)

abactuon said:

## Turn Off Windows Defender Real-time Protection
# Privacy & seecurity > Windows Security > Virus & thread protection > Virus & thread protection settings > Manage settings > Real-time protection
[Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::SetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Real-Time Protection", "DisableRealtimeMonitoring", 0x01)

Click to expand...

That's not what I'm asking. It's nothing short of foolish, in my opinion in turning off Defender real-time protection.

Additionally, MsMpEng.exe is always running in the background even after disabling real-time protection unless you install and enable Defender Control which I don't recommend for many reasons.

I wouldn't recommend white listing apps, even native (Windows supplied?) ones based on something you read which I have a feeling are the articles regarding Defender performance on some older architectures and particular situations.
Are you actually having issues where Defender is using too many resources on your system, causing unacceptable loss of performance?
While it is true that Defender seems to use more resources on Intel based systems as opposed to AMD based ones currently, I and many others here on these forums notice no measurable impact.
Defender and Windows 11 are still evolving, the issues affecting some people are known about and being worked on.
Is it worth possibly compromising your security, unless you are actually experiencing major issues, in which case maybe try a substitute anti-virus/ malware system instead.
There is a thread talking about this very subject on these forums if you are interested in some wider opinion, the above is just my point of view based on my experience.

Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath $env:TEMP -Force
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath $env:LOCALAPPDATA"\NVIDIA\DXCache" -Force
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath $env:USERPROFILE"\AppData\LocalLow\Intel\ShaderCache" -Force
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath D:\Games -Force

Anything at all.

Sammy888 said:

I was reading elsewhere that some native and legitimate applications (processes) cause Windows Defender to use too much resources.

It was suggested to add them to the Windows Defended (process) exclusion list.

Does anyone have their own recommended list they would like to add to this thread?

Click to expand...

I can't say especially on modern machines that WD was ever a resource hogger unlike some older 3rd party A/V solutions.

Unless you are a real Windows Internals guru and understand some of the really eseoteric processes of OS internals and kernels, the OS itself is far more likely to have a better solution than any amount of "Amateur Tinkering" no matter how good your coding or debugging skills may be.

Some might do OK but I'd suggest around 95% of people including loads here who are more computer literate than most should just leave well alone in this area. "If it Ain't Broke -- Don't fix it" worked years ago and is still true today.

If people do find proper solutions then that's great and those improvements will eventually make their way back into an OS update. People like Ms aren't stupid. They want their OS to be safe, resilient and efficient.

Cheers
jimbo