Win 7 64-bit - ekrn uses high CPU on driver install

Any time I connect a device that requires a driver install (for example, a USB thumb drive or an external drive), windows seems to get stuck on the "Installing Driver" window. I tracked this down to ekrn.exe, which ends up oscillating around 50% CPU and just doesn't go down and stays there. If I disable the antivirus, then the driver install proceeds quickly as expected.

I'm running build 467 of nod32 v4. No other antivirus products ever installed, and I use the included Windows firewall. Running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit on an Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM. This is a new install of Windows 7, not an upgrade, etc.

Any suggestions? Thanks

 

Hello partymonkey,

What other applications are you running on this machine? Is there any backup software installed?

 

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I didn't think I had any additional backup software, but I'm looking at my services list and I have:
- Macrium Reflect Image Mounting Service (I installed this)
- Nero BackItUp Scheduler (I didn't realize my Nero install installed this, but I don't have anything scheduled and plus I installed this recently, after the problem occurred)
- Windows Defender (I expected this)

I also have Rhapsody, Itunes, Windows Mobile device connectivity (for my phone), Virtualbox, Canon printer and camera software, MS Office, Yahoo Messenger, Lightscribe, Foxit Reader, etc.

 

Do you use default settings? If so, could you try playing with various settings for newly created files in the advanced real-time protection setup and narrow it down to the particular setting that makes the issue go away when disabled?