For as long as I can remember, VLC media player has been a staple on all my PCs and laptops. VLC is the ol’ reliable of software – feed it virtually any media format, and it just plays it without fuss.
But recently on Windows 11, I noticed a frustrating issue: launching VLC took anywhere between 10 to 30 seconds. Double-clicking an MP4 and sitting through a 15-second delay just to watch a local video quickly wore thin.
So, last week I replaced VLC with an app that uses the same VLC engine, but which opens instantly and is arguably prettier, Screenbox.
The Windows Security bottleneck
A bit of digging on Reddit and various tech forums pointed to a culprit: a conflict between Windows Security (Defender) and VLC’s plugin cache. Because VLC scans its extensive directory of plugins and dynamic libraries upon launch, real-time antivirus scanning intercepts those file reads, creating a massive disk I/O lag.
To test the theory, I opened Windows Security → Virus & threat protection settings → Exclusions and added the VLC application folder to the exclusion list.
After a system reboot, the result was night and day. VLC opened instantly.
Bypassing vs fixing
While excluding the folder solved the speed issue, it didn’t feel like a proper solution.
Bypassing real-time antivirus scanning for an entire application directory is ultimately a workaround, not a permanent fix. Rebuilding the plugin cache didn’t resolve the underlying conflict either, as others had suggested as the fix.
I wanted an app that worked properly out of the box without needing special security exceptions.
Enter Screenbox
That search led me to Screenbox.
Screenbox is a modern, open-source media player built directly on LibVLC – the exact same core playback engine that powers VLC. Because it uses the same underlying technology, it handles my local MP4 library and video formats without missing a beat.
However, because Screenbox is packaged as a modern UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app, Windows handles its execution environment differently. It completely avoids the real-time file-scanning bottleneck that plagues desktop VLC, opening instantly without needing any security exclusions.
Beyond performance, Screenbox embraces the Windows 11 design language, featuring a sleek, fluent UI, translucent surfaces, and clean controls. It feels native to the OS in a way classic VLC never quite managed.
I particularly like the ability to point Screenbox at my folders of movies and music videos so it remembers where they are on my network attached storage (NAS). That makes it much faster to select whatever I want to watch.
The verdict
I am still happily using VLC for Android, where it continues to perform flawlessly for both audio and video.
But on Windows 11, until the desktop client resolves its start-up delays with Windows Security, Screenbox has now earned a permanent spot on my taskbar.
