4 ms·

How are the AV companies still alive with Windows Defender installed on every Windows since like Windows 7 or 8?

• kijin 7y ago
  Windows Defender is a little too understated IMO. Most people don't even know that it's a decent antivirus. I wouldn't mind if better marketing for Windows Defender made a bunch of shady antivirus companies go bankrupt, but Microsoft probably doesn't want to get into another round of antitrust lawsuits.
• reaperducer 7y ago
  How are the AV companies still alive with Windows Defender installed on every Windows since like Windows 7 or 8? Apparently by selling your information.
• mywittyname 7y ago
  Computer salesman have talking points about how WD doesn't catch 95% of virus out there. Of course, they leave out the part about how WD focuses on the 5% of viruses actually found in the wild, as continuously surveyed by Microsoft, not the 30k variants of known viruses that are not relevant to a Windows 10 machine. My go to is to say, the security lead for Google Chrome once tweeted, "the biggest impediment to implementing a secure browser is AV software."
  • alibert 7y ago
    I saw that quote being posted quite often in HN. I always smile at this because Google Chrome (on Windows only) includes a cleanup tool based on an popular AV engine. https://www.blog.google/products/chrome/cleaner-safer-web-chrome-cleanup/ https://www.blog.google/products/chrome/cleaner-safer-web-ch... https://www.eset.com/int/google-chrome-cleanup/ https://www.eset.com/int/google-chrome-cleanup/
    • mywittyname 7y ago
      I think his original criticism was that the OS hooks that typical AV install are a source of vulnerabilities and bugs. I don't think he took issue with the idea of a well-maintained database of signatures used to identify malicious code, just most vendors implementations that check against such.