In the Windows operating system environment, many files are loaded automatically. Some of them are familiar to the user. And some raise questions due to their novelty or little popularity. One example of such a processes is “msascuil”.
MSASCuiL.exe – a file developed by Microsoft Corporation
Some users may notice msascuil in their processes, while others do not. This suggests that, unknowingly, you can start disabling all programs in a row. The presence or absence of this program indicates the use (or no use if the process is not listed) of the built-in antivirus program Windows Defender.
It should be noted right away that to minimize user confusion in one of the latest updates, Microsoft renamed “msascuil” to “Windows Security Notification icon”, combining several tasks under this item at once. In older versions of the OS, you can also find the old version of the name in question.
Typically, you can check the legitimacy of Msascuil.exe by checking the following file functions:
- The folder where the file is located;
- Full size;
- Does it open like most standard programs?
Msascuil can be deciphered as “the Microsoft protection service user interface” (the translation is very rough, but does not change the essence). That is, this process is associated with Windows Defender Antivirus and is responsible for building its graphical interface.
The msascui.exe process is part of Windows Defender (8 / 8.1 / 10) and prevents virus programs from being installed on your computer. It works in the background to constantly monitor the situation in the operating system. Therefore, it is a standard program in all operating systems.
Reasons for the load on the system
Let’s assume that the process is not caused by a virus that masquerades as a system component. Consider only situations in which msascuil can cause resource congestion:
- System update. During the update, the defender checks the loaded components, which “eats away” a significant part of the production capacity. If at the same time the defender himself is updated, then the load can be equal to the peak for several minutes.
- Active scanning. If Defender is used as the main antivirus, then any scan (scheduled or scanning of downloaded files) will consume some of your PC’s resources.
- Calling the user interface. Sometimes it also happens that under high system load (for example, when rendering a video), Defender starts up on its own to report any changes. At such moments, the load on resources becomes so huge that the window is launched up to several minutes. All this time, msascuil has been loading the system solidly.
Is Msascuil.exe a virus?
Now consider a situation that does not fit all of the above. If the process consumes too many resources, but the system is not updated, and Defender is disabled and not used, your msascuil is most likely a virus. To verify this, you will need:
- Start Task Manager.
- Go to the “Details” tab (you must first click on the “more” checkbox).
- Find msascuil and right-click on it.
- Select “Properties” (for example, a different process is used, but this does not change the algorithm)
- Go to the “Details” tab and check the data from the description.
If the specified data do not match, you will need to deal with the destruction of the virus. Alas, this can be a daunting task that a regular antivirus cannot handle. Therefore, it makes sense to control its work with third-party utilities.