Windows 8.1 Anti virus??

[bakwoods21]

I was told that I don't need anti virus protection for windows 8.1. Is this true? I was told that it is built in.

 

[Berryracer]

yes it's built in, and you should disable it and install a real antivirus ASAP, look at its sad score, I would rather have no protection than the use a Microsoft security product.

 

[bakwoods21]

wow! Thanks

 

[Berryracer]

I use NOD32 Antivirus personally.

I sent you a free license of BullGuard Internet Security as I have on use of my license anymore.

check its detection rate here >>> http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-7/janfeb-2014/

It uses the Bitdefender Engine + its own engine (so 2 in 1, shampoo + Conditioner) and also uses the Outpost Firewall, so you get the best of virus protection + the best Firewall

Please do not share this license with anyone or I will get notified and the license WILL get blacklisted, it is valid for installation and use on ONE PC

 

[JackMDS]

There is many ranking sites over the Internet and if you compare their Rating there is very little correlation between them.

Some AV that are ranking high elsewhere do not even appear on the above.

So what a person should do?

Look on how several credible ranking sites and learn what they put the emphasis on and how they really derive their ranking, then choose what ever look like it is closeted to your Surfing habits.

Acting according to some sensational Link from here and there is Not a replacement to real understanding what protection is all about.

In many cases that I come across the native 8.1 AV is pretty good.

Don't forget that a person have to eat and the money for it does not come from performing comprehensive testing and offer them for free over the Internet. That is why some software appears in some places and vise versa.

 

[ViRGE]

yes it's built in, and you should disable it and install a real antivirus ASAP, look at its sad score, I would rather have no protection than the use a Microsoft security product.

I'm going to disagree with Berry here. The data he references is essentially rigged to upsell paid AV resolutions. I won't drag out this conversation with the full details, but here is the best summary I know of as to why AV-TEST's results are bunk and should not be a concern for home users: http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3390259&cid=42621859

MSSE does its job, and does it well. The main point where it "fails" is detecting zero day stuff or stuff that is rarely or never detected outside the labs.

Zero day stuff is detected with heuristics. Heuristics are the main cause for massive amount of false positives. MSSE has it set to low on purpose - to minimize constant "I've detected something that sorta, kinda, might possibly, maybe, be something that remotely resembles a virus" that many other AV suites tend to get.

So unless you're being actively targeted by zero day virii (and these tend to be costly, so private person is highly unlikely to be a target), MSSE is probably the best option on the market. It's free, it doesn't have overly right heuristics engine telling you that compressed executables are potential viruses, it's fast because it doesn't do those intensive heuristics scans.

And it detects most non-zero day stuff just fine.

And that's the reality of it. If you're a company, or a person in need of some extra chance of detecting zero day threats at expense of significant loss of system resources as well as dealing with false positives, you should look elsewhere. If you're just a home user with sane security policy, MSSE is likely the best choice for you.

Windows 8's built-in AV solution is perfectly adequate for home users. It is extremely light weight, easy to use, has virtually 0 false positives, and best of all there isn't a paid version to upsell the user on, so there's no nagging or threats involved. For a home user there's no good reason to waste money on another AV client, especially since most of them will just slow you down.

 

[code65536]

What's more, it's now standard practice for black hats to disguise their malware from AV (it's gotten to the point where there are readily-available tools for this; just go Googling for "crypters"), and they'll often test their malware against to latest AV to make sure that doesn't trip any of them or their heuristics.

So not only do those aggressive AV get many more false positives, they actually don't do that good of a job against the truly serious 0days (and that sham of a test above doesn't do a good job of showing that particular deficiency.)

My personal preference?
No AV whatsoever > MSSE / Defender >>> everything else

When it comes to security, there is no substitute to a little dose of user education.

 

[Mem]

I'm going to have disagree with some members here,even Microsoft admits its bottom of the pile,

In an interview, the company admits it has turned its AV app into a "baseline program," and that the app will "always be on the bottom" of the AV software rankings, where it has languished in the last two years after a few years on top.

Microsoft also adds that "the company is just sharing its virus tracking findings with the security industry so they can develop better antivirus programs."

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/artic...ir_own_security_essentials_anti-virus_package


No reason to try one of the many free alternatives out there ie Panda,Avast,AVG,Bitdefender etc..