Some time ago I started to experience some performance issues in rf2, most notably it would sometimes take several minutes longer than usual to start the game. I did some digging and found that sometimes when launching rf2, the “antimalware service executable” goes absolutely nuts hounding rf2 as it launches, slowing it down significantly. Now I’m not sure how common this is but I figured I’d share anyway. You can check if you alre also affected by this by watching task manager as rf2 launches. If the “antimalware service executable” kicks in, then you are affected. To fix it, I added some process exclusions, one for “Launch rFactor.exe” (launcher) and “rFactor2.exe” (game). BE WARNED, by doing this, Defender will completely ignore these processes, and if some malware was to infect one of these processes, it would not be noticed. Please be aware of this and do this at your own risk. I followed this guide to add the exclusions https://www.windowscentral.com/how-exclude-files-and-folders-windows-defender-antivirus-scans If you’re using VR and think Defender might be hounding those processes, you can add exclusions for those too.
This things goes "nuts" indeed checking for malware, but on my system rF2 takes split second to start from Steam and under 10 seconds to load full grid GT3 into track. If you have a HDD and slower system then this might be a little bit more of a problem, but i am really satisfied with it as protection. I have used so many different AV solutions and im the most happy with Defender. Never thought i would say that being M$ and all, but...
