Anti virus software or windows defender

Shaun Palmer

Shaun Palmer

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Hi everyone

I know this is a photography forum but I know the majority of us use a laptop/pc. I currently pay for F secure anti virus software, and came across windows defender which to be honest id never known what it was.

My question is do any of you use it for your anti virus protection instead of a 3rd part software? And is it good enough? I rarely download anything from the net, just use computer for photoshop and Lightroom mainly.

Thanks

Shaun
 
I've used Windows Security Essentials for years, free, very good at spotting viruses if you keep the definitions file updated (I update mine every 2 days).
I believe it's a cousin of Windows Defender and you run either but not both at the same time.
The only problem coming up is Micro$oft have pulled support for XP and soon Vista and then Win7 so my search will then be on for a free equivalent.
 
Avast free always works for me, doesn't slow my pc down and will auto update to save you having to remember
 
Windows firewall and free AVG on my PC running 64bit Win10. Not had a problem - fingers crossed.
 
I have used windows defender for a while & no problems.:)
 
Another vote for Avast. I also use Malwarebytes on a regular basis. I do use MS's own products instead of Avast but only on PCs/servers that don't have email or browse the interweb.
 
I use Windows Defender on my Win 10 rig. I also scan with Malwarebytes one per week. Not found any nasty's so far.

The best thing about Windows defender now it is on Windows by default, is that it has massively reduced the numbers of call from I get from friends and friends of friends asking me to help in cleaning their virus ridden laptops.

I would now never pay for antivirus software unless the software companies can provide rock solid, real evidence that their product is better then Windows defender in real world conditions.
 
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Historically Ms anti virus products have always* been poor performers in detection tests.

E.g. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.howtogeek.com/225385/what%E2%80%99s-the-best-antivirus-for-windows-10-is-windows-defender-good-enough/amp/?client=ms-unknown

https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-10/

There are much better free alternatives out there. Check out the av-comparatives tests for detection rates, personally I favour avast. It's got good detection rates and low resource footprint.


*okay not always. Initially when Ms bought out Sybari Software (who made the very good Antigen and Mse was basically that rehashed) Mse was actually pretty good. But quickly went downhill.
 
My previous experiences with MS Defender weren't very good, so I switched to Avast (Free) and run Malwarebytes once a week. Defender may have improved, I don't know, but I haven't had any problems with my current choices and can't see any reason to go back to it.
 
Another vote for Avast Free here, though Windows defender is still running in the background. I also run Malaware bytes every couple of weeks along with CCleaner. No problems so far (fingers crossed !)
 
I've used Avast for a few years now, before that I used AVG. Both are free and caused no problems.

Dave
 
I use ESET Smart Security at home, it works very good with suspicious websites and files.
 
"there is negligible evidence that major non-MS AV products give a net improvement in security"

righto..

honestly can't remember anything recently where AV broke a system or software package. think last example ive seen was in fact several years ago where Sophos detected a false positive on one of its own autoupdate dlls.

article may be more credible with more relvent examples. i mean a link back to 2012 where mcafee was breaking firefox? firstly firefox has been killing itself for years now irrespective of AV. and mcafee has always been a bloated mess itself.
 
Thanks for the reply guys. I'm not bothered that I pay, just wondered if it was actually worth paying if defender is good enough. F-secure seems very resource heavy on start up and it's a little annoying, I assume using defender wouldn't be as heavy. I think I'll give it a go, thanks again everyone :D
 
neil_g said:
"there is negligible evidence that major non-MS AV products give a net improvement in security"

righto..

honestly can't remember anything recently where AV broke a system or software package. think last example ive seen was in fact several years ago where Sophos detected a false positive on one of its own autoupdate dlls.

article may be more credible with more relvent examples. i mean a link back to 2012 where mcafee was breaking firefox? firstly firefox has been killing itself for years now irrespective of AV. and mcafee has always been a bloated mess itself.
Click to expand...

Funny. Panda did the same thing in the not-to-distant past.

As Scott Hanselman himself says, Anti-Virus is a virus.

You don't have to look hard to find articles and papers on the vulnerabilities of the AV software.
As many AV products are using Man-In-The-Middle attacks to intercept SSL, attackers can exploit the AV software circumvent the HTTPs. Which is useful if say, they want your online banking credentials.
 
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