Question Windows Defender

[IBMJunkman]

I currently use ESET and MalwareBytes. ESET is up for renewal.

I hear positive things about Windows Defender. Is it that good? Should I drop to 1 fighter of evil?

 

[mikeymikec]

I would be hard-convinced that any generic anti-virus program is of much use these days, hence I just 'recommend' Windows Defender, being better than nothing at all.

The only action I see out of these programs are when they find executables from many years ago sitting in a customer's Downloads folder doing nothing, or when security software sniffs out my toolkit folder and starts quarantining useful utilities in the name of 'security'.

Malwarebytes is somewhat more relevant. I don't know how useful its premium features are though.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I cannot fully grasp the time, trouble and money I've invested over 25 years to keep the integrity of my Digital Fortress. Once I used Norton. Then ESET. Then Kaspersky. I didn't like McAfee. But finally, as advised somewhere by reliable sources, I chose to run Windows Defender supplemented by MalWareBytes. I have never regretted this. NEVER!

 

[igor_kavinski]

I despise ESET because it is used in my workplace and it has detected false positives multiple times in my PC. I have uploaded those files to Virustotal and only one or two crappy lesser known AVs flagged them.

 

[Steltek]

Are you running Malwarebytes free or a paid tier? If you are running Malwarebytes free, Windows Defender should be absolutely fine.

As far as paid Malwarebytes is concerned, I've been running Malwarebytes standard (I have several lifetime licenses from way back when they were still a thing) as my solitary and primary anti-virus for probably 8-9 years now and have had absolutely no problems whatsoever.

From 2010 until about 2015, I used to run a secondary antivirus as well (the free versions of Avast, then later Bitdefender and finally Kaspersky after Bitdefender free went away for a while), but eventually eliminated them all as they were beginning to have serious conflicts with the newer versions of Malwarebytes standard that even establishing exceptions couldn't resolve.

As long as you aren't actively seeking out dangerous websites, you should be good against drive-by infections in either circumstance.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Are you running Malwarebytes free or a paid tier? If you are running Malwarebytes free, Windows Defender should be absolutely fine.

As far as paid Malwarebytes is concerned, I've been running Malwarebytes standard (I have several lifetime licenses from way back when they were still a thing) as my solitary and primary anti-virus for probably 8-9 years now and have had absolutely no problems whatsoever.

From 2010 until about 2015, I used to run a secondary antivirus as well (the free versions of Avast, then later Bitdefender and finally Kaspersky after Bitdefender free went away for a while), but eventually eliminated them all as they were beginning to have serious conflicts with the newer versions of Malwarebytes standard that even establishing exceptions couldn't resolve.

As long as you aren't actively seeking out dangerous websites, you should be good against drive-by infections in either circumstance.

You may be asking this question of the OP. I just accept -- and budget for -- an annual subscription payment to renew MalwareBytes for some five devices. If I uninstall it on one device, the "subscription" keeps a tally and I can re-install it on another. To me, it's just part of the cost to keep my household or mobile devices secure, as much as I try to control those expenses.

But I more or less support your last statement. That's just sound computer usage. As far back as 20 years ago, my brother was living in a cabin provided by his resort employer. I had built and given him a computer. He wandered into some XXX web-sites, and viruses overran his PC. It was a day's work to just get a clean system restored to him. I think I had to simply wipe his hard disk clean and start from the beginning to reinstall the operating system and all the software.