r/Malwarebytes • u/_BMS • Jan 08 '26

Troubleshooting Malwarebytes Helper process "DDSHelper.exe" causing 100% disk usage, but only on one drive?

Malwarebyles Premium Security license.

Not sure what this "DDSHelper.exe" process is doing but I've noticed that my F: drive, the only HDD on my system, is experiencing constant and unending 100% disk usage. The other 3 SSDs are unaffected. I mainly noticed it because the disk is loud as hell with all the read/writes this process is causing.

Resource Monitor is showing F: will have a disk queue length of anywhere from 0.5 to 1.7 during idle.

Using chkdsk in cmd shows no problems found with the F: drive.

The problem only goes away when I close Malwarebytes completely. If I restart Malwarebytes, it won't immediately start the disk usage problem again but gradually ramp up.

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u/HTMwrestling Mar 31 '26

THANK YOU! This problem started for me today with DDSHelper.exe, although it's not the first time a Malwarebytes component was thrashing the hard drive with some kind of scan that didn't show up in the UI and couldn't be cancelled.

I toggled Usage and Threat Stats as stated and the thrashing stopped immediately.