VLC Slow Startup Issue Linked to Microsoft Defender Bug

A popular VLC Media Player issue has been reported by users across various online forums. The problem causes the player to take several seconds or even half a minute to start up, regardless of the file size or type.

The issue seems to affect Windows 10 computers only, while Windows 11 PCs are not affected. This led some users to accuse Microsoft of deliberately slowing down the open-source media player.

However, investigations have revealed that the root cause lies with Microsoft Defender's update. The antivirus software has been placing VLC's plugin cache in quarantine since an August 11th update, causing the slow startup issue.

To fix this problem, users can either reinstall VLC or regenerate the plugin cache using vlc-cache-gen.exe. Additionally, setting an exclusion for VLC Media Player in Microsoft Defender will prevent future issues.