4 ms·

Windows has had its own antivirus (Security Essentials / Windows Defender) for some time now. Do you have any reason not to trust it, or that it isn't adequate

by AceStar 10y ago

Windows has had its own antivirus (Security Essentials / Windows Defender) for some time now. Do you have any reason not to trust it, or that it isn't adequate? Most large antivirus vendors don't fill me with a lot of confidence, and my theory is that at least Microsoft's own solution is going to integrate well and stay out of my face.

BoorishBears 10y ago
I've generally relied on Defender and "common sense", I just have a PC or two that tend to be focused on gaming, and I'm a little more conscious of how much poorly vetted software I run on them (things like game modifications running native code). Especially after a scare a year or so back with a game modification that had been infected with a key logger. I wouldn't really think to inspect something like that closely (and it had a large userbase, so even if I had searched around I probably would have figured it was safe)
savethefuture 10y ago
Keep in mind that Windows Defender uploads your files to the MS cloud for scanning. http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/windows-defender-advanced-threat-protection-uses-cloud-power-to-figure-out-youve-been-pwned/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/window... And generally any "large antivirus vendor" is going to integrate just as well and can be non-intrusive as any other.
- AceStar 10y ago
  I used McAfee's suite once because I had to (corporate environment). It popped up all the time wanting this or that. It relied on ActiveX for a lot of what it did. Updates to it failed if your system default browser was set to something other than Internet Explorer. I'm guessing it's moved on since then, but it lost my trust. I've had to use Norton's suite before too and it had similar reliability issues. Since using Security Essentials / Defender on Win7 and later it just works and never needs any hand-holding.

by AceStar 10y ago

BoorishBears 10y ago

I've generally relied on Defender and "common sense", I just have a PC or two that tend to be focused on gaming, and I'm a little more conscious of how much poorly vetted software I run on them (things like game modifications running native code). Especially after a scare a year or so back with a game modification that had been infected with a key logger. I wouldn't really think to inspect something like that closely (and it had a large userbase, so even if I had searched around I probably would have figured it was safe)

savethefuture 10y ago

Keep in mind that Windows Defender uploads your files to the MS cloud for scanning. http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/windows-defender-advanced-threat-protection-uses-cloud-power-to-figure-out-youve-been-pwned/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/03/window... And generally any "large antivirus vendor" is going to integrate just as well and can be non-intrusive as any other.

AceStar 10y ago
I used McAfee's suite once because I had to (corporate environment). It popped up all the time wanting this or that. It relied on ActiveX for a lot of what it did. Updates to it failed if your system default browser was set to something other than Internet Explorer. I'm guessing it's moved on since then, but it lost my trust. I've had to use Norton's suite before too and it had similar reliability issues. Since using Security Essentials / Defender on Win7 and later it just works and never needs any hand-holding.