How Antivirus Software Affects Rider's Performance (on Windows)
Problem description
Some antivirus software can interfere with the development cycle pipeline. When you start programs or build your project in Rider or via the command-line tool, many files are created on your computer. If your antivirus software has real-time scanning enabled, this can cause the application processes to halt each time a file is created while the antivirus scans that file. This is a widespread problem affecting many Windows users, as indicated by the following links:
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17845320/slow-page-refresh-times-during-development
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-performance/windows-defender-real-time-protection-service/98007092-0933-4859-a41a-7d9383e540bd
- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-performance/windows-defender-real-time-protection-service/fda3f73e-cc0a-4946-9b9d-3c05057ef90c
Although disabling your antivirus software altogether may look like a good solution, it is not recommended. To ensure your computer is safe from malicious software, it is important to not completely disable real-time scanning or your antivirus software. Instead, you should configure an antivirus exception list. Setting up this list manually can be time-consuming, but if you use the default Windows security software, Windows Defender, Rider can automatically analyse your system and identify what should be added to its exception list.
Let Rider automatically configure the Windows Defender exception list
As the pre-installed Windows security software, Windows Defender is enabled by default on each Windows machine. As Windows Defender is the most commonly used antivirus software. Rider has been programmed to assist in configuring its exception list.
When you open a new solution in Rider, a notification appears in the bottom right corner of the editor offering to exclude certain directories from from Windows Defender's automated scanning.
To exclude the detected folders from being scanned by the antivirus, click "Automatically". Note that Rider may ask for administrator privileges to perform this action.
There is an Actions dropdown with two options: Ignore for this project and Never ask again. The first option disables this notification for the opened solution only and does not add anything to Windows Defender exclusions. The second option disables this notification for all solutions opened in Rider and does not add anything to Windows Defender exclusions.
Configure Windows Defender manually
If you prefer to perform the configuration manually, follow these steps:
- Click the Windows Start button.
- Enter “Windows Security”.
- Click “Virus and threat protection”.
- Click “Manage settings” under “Virus & threat protection settings”.
- Scroll down if necessary, and then click “Add or remove exclusions”.
- For each folder shown in the notification and listed in "Folders and processes for an antivirus exception list," click the + button, select “Folder” from the menu, and select the folder.
Other antiviruses
If you use a different antivirus product, you may still experience this problem, but there is no automatic detection or correction available. If you experience poor performance, follow the instructions provided by your antivirus product to exclude the directories and files listed in "Folders and Processes for an antivirus exception list" from real-time scanning.
Folders and processes to be excluded from antivirus scan
Note: the path C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local can be replaced with the Windows environment variable %LOCALAPPDATA%.
When you click ‘Automatically’ in the notification, Rider adds the following directories to the list of exclusions:
Folders
- %LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\Rider<version> (e.g. %LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\Rider2022.3)
- Path to the solution folder (e.g. C:\Users\Username\RiderProjects\WebApplication)
- NuGet cache folder %USERPROFILE%\.nuget
We would also recommend excluding the following folders:
- Rider installation folder (Help | Diagnostic Tools | Special Files and Folders and double-click Installation home directory)
- Rider backend binaries %PROGRAMFILES%\JetBrains\Rider\r2r (if exists, this folder might be already added to exclusions during Rider's installation if you checked the corresponding option)
Processes
No processes are added automatically to the exclusion list. But you can add the following processes to improve the performance of the IDE:
- msbuild.exe
For Unity Projects
We recommend excluding the build folder from real-time scanning. This folder is set in Unity build settings when pressing the Build button.
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Hi,
Thanks very much for the helpful article and automatic behaviour of detecting Windows Defender scanning, really appreciate the focus on not just Rider but the other parts of the system that create a better overall experience.
We're seeing warnings for %USERPROFILE%/.nuget. I see it's mentioned in your screenshots but not in the
Folders and processes for an antivirus exception list
section. Please could you confirm whether we should be excluding .nuget from Windows Defender and also whether you had any comments on the security tradeoffs in doing that, would you consider it to be unproblematic or would you say that comes with security risks.
Best wishes,
Calum
Hi Calum,
These are very good questions. To be honest, we need to investigate them before giving a proper answer.
We've initiated an issue for this: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/RIDER-36000. It will take some time, but we will keep you posted.
Thanks again for asking. We appreciate it very much.
Kind regards,
Sofia.
Unfortunately the manual list for all these directories is impossible to manage by hand.
I created a PowerShell script referenced by this tweet https://twitter.com/philippdolder/status/1213986948211036160
Additionally I opened an issue on YouTrack to let Rider solve this https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/RIDER-37702
Unfortunately, in the Rider2020.3 version, the Automatic Configuration is not working anymore, worked fine on Rider2020.2. Why to break the working feature in the new version?
Hello Tomas,
Could you please clarify some more details about what exactly does not work? Also, it would be useful to get your IDE config folder (menu Help | Diagnostic Tools | Special Files and Folders | Config directory).
Please file a new issue on youtrack and share all the information there.
K.R.
Sofia
I find it warns me every time I start up Rider. Every time I click "Configure Automatically". So from your explanation, if it was working, I'd only have to do this once. Therefore it can't be working. It's annoying to have to do it every time you switch projects.
I'm using 2020.3
C.S.
The same story as described by Craig.
2020.3.4
Build #RD-203.7717.10, built on March 17, 2021
I have a new machine and Rider isn't asking me to automatically perform these exclusions. Is there a way to trigger that somehow, please?
I'm using the latest EAP at time of writing: JetBrains Rider 2021.1 EAP 9, Build #RD-211.6693.2, built on March 24, 2021
2021.1.2 running with administrator rights - Automatic Configuration is not working! Previous version did not work as well. Craig is right.
Still not working.
I just configured it manually. Even though I had clicked on automatic configuration, rider was never able to add those exceptions - but also never showed any error message.
Now that I added the exceptions manually, the message does not pop up anymore on startup. Seems like it works now!
Automatic config button isn't working
and I can't find the settings for manual configs
Hi there,
I apologise for the inconveniences you have with this feature.
Indeed, Rider is unable to add exclusions if started with Administrator rights: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-252370.
Also, this action does not work if your username contains non-latin characters: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-224689. Please, check it.
As for not showing the popup, please try to run the action "Reset Windows Defender Notification". One can find it via Find Action menu (Help | Find Action). I would be grateful if you let me know about the results.
Also, the following may help: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-268156#focus=Comments-27-4867221.0-0
"Open options/other.xml in the IDEA settings directory, look for
<component name="PropertiesComponent">, delete the sub-element<property name="ignore.virus.scanning.warn.message">."K.R.
Sofia
I've been plagued with this issue for years, and just gave up on it ever getting fixed. Finally got it resolved, by looking at the following issue: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-252370?_ga=2.154894008.1095851602.1641921006-1681367277.1589576008
Turns out the "Configure Automatically' feature is not working, if you run in Administrator mode. The solution for me was:
1. Run in normal mode (NOT administrator).
2. Click "Configure Automatically' when prompted.
3. Make sure you see the following message pop-up (and in the log): 'Windows Defender configuration updated'
4. You can now run in Administrator mode, and no longer get the annoying pop-up
I verified this workaround for the following products: Rider, DataGrip, WebStorm
Hi,
I am trying to use your solution but unfortunately when I launch the program in non-Admin mode, the warning do not copy. Has anyone found any other solution? This thing is really annoying
Daqfra1: https://rider-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006365380/comments/4403325219346
There is an error in the article:
That would make the configured Defender exception useless because Windows Defender processes are running as SYSTEM account thus cannot resolve user related environment variables like %USERPROFILE%:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/security/defender-endpoint/configure-extension-file-exclusions-microsoft-defender-antivirus?view=o365-worldwide#use-wildcards-in-the-file-name-and-folder-path-or-extension-exclusion-lists
Every time Rider starts I choose to configure this automatically but it would be nice if it stuck so I don't have to do that every time I start Rider.
Also, I tried setting it manually - hoping the start up dialog would go away - still pops up when Rider starts. Is this functionality even working? How can I verify if it does?
In my Win 10 VM, I tried starting Rider without Admin rights and reset the Windows Defender Notification but it never pops up. Only when Rider is started with Admin rights and then it's useless. The setting won't stick. Unfortunately you have to run with Admin rights to debug browser processes, so for web devs, it's an issue.
The option to exclude folders in Windows Defender is locked on my work computer and it doesn't seem to work using the popup mentioned either. I can apply for a dispensation, but I have to give a very good reason for being allowed to exclude folders. The one major concern they seem to have is, if it is safe enough to exclude the folders. Has any risk analysis been done for this topic or are we just excluding the folders and hoping for the best? I have trawled the web for anything about this, but there does not seem to be anything on the topic. Do someone in here have some insight into this?
"Changing exclusions has been disabled by your administrator"