If you use Windows Security (often called Windows Defender) you may notice non-Microsoft programs take a lot longer to load. This is down to your anti-virus. A quick tweak will resolve this issue. I will demonstrate with VLC (VideoLAN Client), a popular video player.
Exclude your programs
When you open a program that isn’t made by Microsoft, Windows Security aggressively scans it before opening and this slows down the opening time. Since the programs we use a lot have been used for a long time, we can safely add them to the Exclusion list:
Here are the steps to add a folder exclusion to Windows Security:
- Open Settings, search for “Windows Security” and open Windows Security Settings.
- Click on Virus & threat protection.
- Under Virus & threat protection settings press Manage Settings
- Under Exclusions, click Add or remove exclusions
- Choose Yes to the box that pops up
- Click on Add an exclusion button
- Choose Folder
- Navigate to the folder that your program runs from. If the program is a 32-bit, you will find it in C:\Program Files (x86) and if its a 64-bit, you will find it in C:\Program Files.
- Click on the folder your program is located in (for example, VLC is in C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC)
- Add more folders for each of your programs as you need to.
