4 ms·

Is the point to actually disable defender or to highlight a vulnerability?

ForOldHack 1y ago
That is one possible point, but om machines with low memory, (like a lab full of 8Gb potatoes) this is a godsend. These lab PCs are so stripped down, that the only thing using most of the memory is WD. You should be able to make a normal mode to run full security and a gaming mode just run a semi large game,and yes, this does expose a vulnerability,but it can be easily brought back up.
- iforgotpassword 1y ago
  Oof, really? Haven't really used windows much after 7, but it always seemed to me defender was pretty lightweight. At least compared to all the other products where just opening the UI would lag out the average machine.
geocar 1y ago
I think the point is to disable defender: Air-gapped machines, kiosks, industrial applications, and so on, have no need to eat gobs of ram and waste loads of cpu checking the same files over and over again. For other applications, WD provides dubious benefits. It is annoying that there isn't a switch that says "I know how to operate a computer". Evildoers don't need to bother with this: If they have access at this point you've got other problems. Microsoft may extend WD to detect/block this vector since it is using undocumented interfaces; Microsoft would absolutely prefer you buy more cores, and if you're not going to do that, collect some additional licensing revenue through some other way.
- eru 1y ago
  Why would Microsoft care how much money I spend with my CPU core vendor?
  - geocar 1y ago
    Because Microsoft charges per core: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/pricing https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/pricing
    - eru 1y ago
      Oh, that's for the server. Somehow when I hear 'Windows' I only think of desktop use, not servers.
- mappu 1y ago
  > It is annoying that there isn't a switch that says "I know how to operate a computer". I found one such switch: Install Linux

That is one possible point, but om machines with low memory, (like a lab full of 8Gb potatoes) this is a godsend. These lab PCs are so stripped down, that the only thing using most of the memory is WD. You should be able to make a normal mode to run full security and a gaming mode just run a semi large game,and yes, this does expose a vulnerability,but it can be easily brought back up.

iforgotpassword 1y ago
Oof, really? Haven't really used windows much after 7, but it always seemed to me defender was pretty lightweight. At least compared to all the other products where just opening the UI would lag out the average machine.

geocar 1y ago

I think the point is to disable defender: Air-gapped machines, kiosks, industrial applications, and so on, have no need to eat gobs of ram and waste loads of cpu checking the same files over and over again. For other applications, WD provides dubious benefits. It is annoying that there isn't a switch that says "I know how to operate a computer". Evildoers don't need to bother with this: If they have access at this point you've got other problems. Microsoft may extend WD to detect/block this vector since it is using undocumented interfaces; Microsoft would absolutely prefer you buy more cores, and if you're not going to do that, collect some additional licensing revenue through some other way.

eru 1y ago
Why would Microsoft care how much money I spend with my CPU core vendor?
- geocar 1y ago
  Because Microsoft charges per core: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/pricing https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/pricing
  - eru 1y ago
    Oh, that's for the server. Somehow when I hear 'Windows' I only think of desktop use, not servers.
mappu 1y ago
> It is annoying that there isn't a switch that says "I know how to operate a computer". I found one such switch: Install Linux