Shortly after installing Norton 360 and Norton Ultimate Utilities, a Norton 360 window popped up saying the MsMpEng.exe had been trying to access FireFox cookies and recommending I block it, which I did.
About MsMpEng.exe, N360 currently says:
App blocked
MsMpEng.exe is now restricted from accessing your browser cookies.
We’ll always block this app
Button::Got it
Link::Hide details ^
App name C: \ program data \ Microsoft \ windows defender \ platform \ 4.18.24090.11-0 \ MsMPEng.Exe
Affected browser Firefox
Password storage path C:\ users \ [USERNAME] \ appdata \ roaming \ Mozilla \ Firefox \ profiles \ 12|5ya0r.default-release \ cookies.Sqlite
Detected by Browser data protection
Status Blocked
Prompted by the “Ms” prefix, I put the filename into a search engine, which produced:
AI Overview
“Msmpeng.exe” stands for “Microsoft Malware Protection Engine” and is a core component of Windows Defender, the built-in antivirus and antimalware protection on Windows operating systems; essentially, it’s the executable file responsible for scanning your computer for threats like viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, and taking action to remove or quarantine them if found.
Having, some time in the past, seen that N360 turns off Windows Defender (WD) in favor of its own firewall, I thought blocking MsMpEng.exe wouldn’t be a problem. However, something led me to what appeared to be a WD control panel. From what I could tell, N360 was using some functions of WD. So, my main premise for thinking MsMpEng wouldn’t be missed was not correct.
So, I’m wondering if I sould unblock MsMpEng.exe and, if so, how.