General Discussions

[kingfish]

No surprises here....

Microsoft's Windows Defender ranks seventh out of 15 antivirus (AV) products in an independent test. But the results don't tell the whole picture, argues Microsoft.

With improvements to Windows 10's built-in Windows Defender antivirus, some users are questioning whether it's worth paying for a third-party product from the likes of Symantec, McAfee or Kaspersky.

But according to the latest results for Windows home and business use from German AV benchmarking firm, AV-Test, Windows Defender is still trailing third-party AV, tying in seventh place with four other vendors.

Microsoft: Here's why Windows Defender AV isn't ranked higher in new antivirus tests | ZDNet

[black_zion]

If you look at their full list though, it scores the same protection rating as AVG and Avast. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to the knowledgeable computer user who knows how to use common sense, but for the techilliterate, I'd say Bitdefender.

[kingfish]

IMO, it is the first thing to disable on a new computer. Just had a poster run  Malwarebytes on his computer 'protected' by WD...666 trojans/malware. Obviously had to reinstall the OS...and get a decent (free) AV.

[black_zion]

AV and AM software are different, and you need to use Spybot and Malwarebytes as well as AV software.

[kingfish]

I have Malwarebytes Premium...it stops/catches everything. Use it with a lite AV...Panda.

[elstaci]

I have Windows Defender run periodic scans automatically plus it monitors everything in Windows except Mcafee's Firewall and Anti-Virus functions. So I use both in concert since it does seem to be totally compatible with each other.

I also use Malwarebytes and Spybot if I feel I may have downloaded a program with malware on it or visited a website that may have installed malware. I run those two about  two or three times a month. Normally it comes back clean.

Eventually, Windows Defender will probably be as good as any 3rd party Anti-Virus program. Which will be very disturbing to the companies that make Anti-Virus programs. Especially if Windows Defender still is free in the future and not become a paid subscription.

[black_zion]

The thing is that if Microsoft makes Windows Defender TOO good, third party companies will sue them to remove it from Windows and make it an optional download because it'd be "anticompetitive"

[elstaci]

You are totally correct. That is why I mentioned that the Anti-virus companies won't be very happy since it will most likely put them out of business or at least make them lose a lot of profits.

I guess is something similar to what happened with Internet Explorer in the past. Companies were complaining that Microsoft had a huge advantage by including a Browser that is part of Windows.

Yet Microsoft keep pushing to the public to get rid of your 3rd party Anti-virus programs and solely use Microsoft's WIndows Defender. So they must know something about how they can use Defender without getting sued by Anti-virus companies. It is possible that they will eventually sell Windows Defender if it becomes as good as 3rd Party software as a subscription for WIndows or stand alone version. The last thing Microsoft wants is a Anti-trust Anti-competitive legislation against them again.

[noodles59]

The biggest problem with MS Defender (win10) is once you have a (full) scan running it can not be paused nor cancelled  - big usability hit!

[black_zion]

And that's just blatantly untrue:

[noodles59]

Perhaps the latest win patch fixed that issue?

I remember very well when I had to wait for the scan to finish, due to no cancel/pause button, b4 I could run my game session!

BTW, a Pause button would be the smarter idea..

[satyendra321]

Windows Firewall can not always protect our computer. Anyway we need to rely on the third party sources.