If your antivirus software is bogging down your computer with CPU-consuming scans, you can lighten the load by excluding low-risk folders.
How-to and technology blog How-To Geek shares a simple way to cut down on the amount of time and CPU-cycles your antivirus software sucks up; exclude low-risk folders from the scan. With the size of modern hard drives and the amount of data we store (like thousands of photos and MP3 files) we give antivirus software a huge list of files to chew through. Some directories, like those filled with photos you took and transferred right from your digital camera, are very low risk but very big. You can significantly reduce the amount of time your antivirus software is working by excluding these folders.
Check out the full article at the link below for a list of low-risk folders you can exclude and guidelines for deciding if folders are safe for exclusion.
Antivirus Slowing Your PC Down? Maybe You Should Use Exclusions [How-To Geek]