Defender: It's part of the Win 10 OS. Some questions . . .

[BonzaiDuck]

I could put this in the "Software Applications" forum, but it just seems reasonable to put it here in "OS" forum.

Move and correct me as appropriate.

I've been using Kaspersky Internet Security since approximately 2007. After the troubles beginning in aftermath of the political campaign with CIA and Congress barring use of Kaspersky from defense contractors and DOD, I chose to keep it. Their stock price fell; their prices fell; I didn't think I was going to be "compromised" to the Russkies. It has always been a top-end security suite.

But there are always difficulties with it. Sometimes you have to tweak applications; sometimes you have to tweak Kaspersky.

Now -- the developing dilemma. My flagship Skylake system with Windows 10 is also the future replacement for one or more older systems with Windows Media Center feeding more than one family member's HDTV, and they are doing DVR duty. The Skylake is set up to use the HDHR-prime triple tuners with HDHomeRun DVR. It has yet to show the final stage of development for recording premiums, but recording unencrypted content works fine -- or it DID.

Sometime in recent months, the RECORD feature of the HDHR App stopped working. That is, the record button doesn't display, and access to the "Live TV - Recorded - Discover - Tasks" menu reveals nothing but a message of "No DVR Configured."

Silly Dust tech-support has worked with me to unravel the mystery of it. It seems to be a conflict between Kaspersky and Silly-Dust-HDHR-DVR. It may be possible to sort out the conflict, but for now, I've uninstalled KIS.

Which -- brings me back to a default configuration of Windows Defender and its firewall. It shows that I'm protected for everything but the "child-proof" feature.

Any thoughts about the reliability of Defender under Windows 10? Any "recommendations?" I may not yet just "give up" on KIS, but need something while I sort it out. "Something" would be Defender for the moment. And then -- what next?

 

[RLGL]

I have been using it for a few years now. No issues and no malware or virus'

 

[JackMDS]

Whether it is part of the OS or independent is not really so important.

In the past (up to Win10, this "part" of the OS was not really providing Good defense.

In Win 10 it changed, now the better Firewall-Defender combo is just as Good (and some say better) than the 3rd party.

 

[XavierMace]

I haven't run a standalone A/V since Windows 8 came out. Defender does every bit of a good of job as your 3rd party solutions and it's far less problematic. It generally seems to be more resource friendly as well.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Whether it is part of the OS or independent is not really so important.

In the past (up to Win10, this "part" of the OS was not really providing Good defense.

In Win 10 it changed, now the better Firewall-Defender combo is just as Good (and some say better) than the 3rd party.

I mentioned that point about Defender's provision as "part of the OS" as a factor in choosing which forum to post the discussion. Should we discuss it in "Software for Windows?" That's all.

Defender as provided with Windows 8 and 10 does indeed seem to provide good protection against conventional viral threats. MSE or Security Essentials is the remaining option for Windows 7, and MS still provides an upgraded download for it maintained as recently as late last year.

But follow as I resume this after XavierMace's quote . .

I haven't run a standalone A/V since Windows 8 came out. Defender does every bit of a good of job as your 3rd party solutions and it's far less problematic. It generally seems to be more resource friendly as well.

Usually, the advice I find at "How-To-Geek" has always led to resolution of this or that problem. Surely, there were several articles on that site addressing AV/Security choices and features, but one in particular specified a hope for an alternative to Kaspersky. KIS, after all, had a good reputation for a long time.

Repeating what Silly-Dust observed in their communication, KIS is actually "too good" in that it can fool itself and block or restrict applications in their network access that should instead be "trusted," even if you make them "trusted." This was the problem with the SiliconDust DVR "RECORD" feature. If you were to worry greatly about your online banking and E-Trade access, KIS would be a great choice. It would be a great choice despite the prudent decision to drop it as an option for defense contractors and DOD, etc.

Returning to the How-To-Geek article, in their assessment for making Win 10 Defender as good a digital fortress as any standalone option.

They recommend Defender for defense against conventional virus threats. But since they believe that protection against ransomware and other threats is lacking, they recommend adding Malwarebytes to run in parallel to Defender:

Malwarebytes

Since "totally free" is often too good to be true, the basic license for one year is about $40, but each additional PC is $10 extra. There doesn't seem to be any conflict or indication for adding Malwarebytes protection to Defender.

HOWEVER! As regards Defender exclusively, some may find that it grabs up to 20% of their computer's clock cycles. It is a mysterious problem. It turns out, however, that there is an easy fix for it.

In the "Exclusions" section of "Windows Defender Security Center," add the folder "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\"

Amazing. Picked up that tip from a link to Tom's Hardware . . .