Microsoft has launched a brand new Microsoft Defender functionality named “efficiency mode” for builders on Home windows 11, tuned to scale back the influence of antivirus scans when analyzing recordsdata saved on Dev Drives.
Launched at this yr’s Microsoft Construct convention, Dev Drive is a brand new sort of Home windows 11 storage quantity utilizing the Resilient File System (ReFS) obtainable in public preview and gives builders enhanced efficiency and resiliency in opposition to information corruption.
These developer-focused storage volumes are designed to retailer giant information units, corresponding to supply code repositories, construct output or intermediate recordsdata, and bundle caches (e.g., Npm, Nuget).
As Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer for Home windows and Gadgets Panos Panay acknowledged, the Dev Drive and Defender efficiency mode mixture can result in a construct velocity enhance of as much as 30%.
“Dev Drive relies on the Resilient File System, which, mixed with a brand new efficiency mode functionality in Microsoft Defender for Antivirus, gives as much as 30% file system enchancment in construct occasions for file I/O eventualities,” Panay mentioned.
“The brand new efficiency mode is safer to your workloads than folder or course of exclusions, offering an final resolution to steadiness safety with efficiency.”
When this new Defender Antivirus mode is on, it’ll steadiness efficiency and menace safety by delaying scans till file operations are accomplished.
To arrange a brand new Dev Drive, it’s important to click on the “Create Dev Drive” button after going to System > Storage > Superior Retailer Settings > Disks & volumes within the Home windows Settings app.
Efficiency mode might be enabled by default for ‘Trusted’ drives, which is true for all newly created Dev Drives, and can solely be obtainable if real-time safety is toggled on.
It is also ONLY obtainable for Dev Drives and can’t be enabled on volumes utilizing different file methods, corresponding to FAT32 or NTFS.
“A Dev Drive is routinely designated as trusted, offering the very best efficiency by default. A trusted Dev Drive signifies that the developer utilizing the quantity has excessive confidence within the safety of the content material saved there,” Microsoft explains.
Nevertheless, any Dev Drives transferred from one other gadget might be set as untrusted and use Microsoft Defender’s real-time safety mode as an alternative, and never the brand new efficiency mode.
However, it’s attainable to set a Dev Drive as trusted utilizing the FSUTIL command line utility, which is able to routinely allow the brand new efficiency mode characteristic.
For now, Dev Drives are solely obtainable for Insiders within the Home windows 11 Dev Channel and wish a minimal of 8GB of RAM and a minimum of 50GB of free disk area.
Efficiency drive additionally requires Microsoft Defender Antivirus, Microsoft Defender for Enterprise, or Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 1 or Plan 2 with Antimalware platform model of 4.18.2303.8 (or later) and Antimalware signature model of 1.385.1455.0 (or later).