Speeding up library loading on Windows 10 in Windows Security

DunedinDragon

I've been investigating how to speed up load times for various Native Instruments libraries as well as some 3rd party libraries. For some time I've been aware of the problems associated with the antimalware process used by Windows Security that significantly slows down the initial loading of libraries. It's been discussed many times how you can disable this feature in Windows Security to significantly speed up load times. But that comes with some other issues in that Windows Security keeps issuing reminders to turn it on. They aren't invasive, just showing up in the Windows Security notifications. Most of the time you do want it enabled when you're browsing web sites, but remembering to turn it off and turn it on can be overlooked easily.

So I spent some time this morning investigating another option in Windows Security which allows you to exclude programs or folders from the real time virus scans and it appears to work and can be left in place without turning off the scanning. I have no idea whether this will work on Windows 11, and I've only tested it briefly so I can't vouch there may not be other hidden issues with it, but so far it significantly speeds up the loading of libraries and somewhat speeds up Native Access processes as best I can tell. It won't fix any and all loading slowdowns, only those associated with the antimalware process that can be seen with the Task Manager app running.

For addressing Kontakt libraries and Utilities such as Native Access I added the C:\Program Files\Native Instruments folder to the Exclusions list. The antimalware process is still active briefly but then pretty much goes dormant for the duration of loading the libraries. But that won't affect 3rd Party libraries that are simply NI compatible such as 8DIO. I selected two specific 8DIO libraries that are particularly slow loading due to their complexity such as the Zeus Drum series and the Hammond Organ by adding the top level folder they reside in such as E:\DIO Hammond Organ and it made a DRAMATIC change in load times. In the case of the Zeus DrumKit it went from a bit under 2 minutes to around 10 seconds.

You can try this yourself by clicking on the Windows Security icon at the lower right hand part of your screen, Select Virus & threat protection on the main screen and on the resulting page select Manage Settings under the Virus & threat protection settings. On the Virus & threat protection settings page scroll down and select Add or remove exclusions under the Exclusions category. You'll receive a notice asking it it's okay to make changes to security. Accept that and you'll have a page where you can Add an exclusion such as a directory or file. You can remove them by simply selecting them from the list and pressing the Remove button.

I haven't yet checked whether this approach will benefit the load times in my DAW which is Ableton Live 11, but that will probably be my next step when I get some time to investigate it. It makes sense that it would because my DAW project load times are significantly faster when I disabled the antimalware process previously.

EDIT: I just quickly checked three projects in Ableton and they responded in a similar fashion with quicker loading and less interference from antimalware.

Kaiwan_NI

Thanks for sharing the tips @DunedinDragon. Let us know how your test goes with Live

Vocalpoint

I have been excluding folder structures and even entire drives - like my Libraries and Sample drives and load times have been reasonable all along.

Even better lately with K 7.10.3

VP