9 replies to this topic

[Old-Skool]

 so, I've had my current computer for about... four years? very happy with it, haven't had any trouble really.

 

But something that has been nagging at the back of my head is that 3rd party product Microsoft Security Essentials has been discontinued, and replaced with the built-in  1st party Windows Defender. MSE came highly recommended by PZC alumni back in the day and did a good job.  However, despite having had no problems, I'm wary of something that "came with" the current PC. I feel like I'm far better off using something else. 

What is everyone's take? What's the popular AV out there? 

I'm not just asking for myself, but for my girlfriend too, who is running Windows 8. I myself use Windows 10. 

[ShadowTiger]

I use the free version of Avast at home, and I use it in Silent mode.  It works fine.  I also have a paid subscription to MalwareBytes.  If you're worried, you can add exceptions for ZC's folders and executables in both programs.

 

The free Avira Antivirus is technically and technologically slightly superior to Avast this year, however, although

 

You can get the free versions of both Avira and Avast for free and very easily at www.ninite.com FYI, or even at www.patchmypc.com (Through their free and amazing Home Updater.)  - But Avast has a better "silent mode" that won't bother you nearly as much as Avira will.  Gotta make yer money somehow, I guess. 

[Old-Skool]

Thanks, ShadowTiger. I directed her to avast, as well as myself. 

[Timelord]

Anything other than Windows Defender: It's the first thing that I disable on any Win10 machine.

 

Throwing rocks, is better protection, than that.

[Arthas]

Just use the inbuilt aa and firewall for win 10. They're good enough, anything more pronounced will cause more issues and hardships than actual viruses and worms. The best protection is YOU. If still on good old win 7 use Avast, but know that even avast can cause issues with random software and games.

[Nicholas Steel]

If you look at benchmarks Windows Defender often ranks quite high at protecting the PC.

[Skipper]

Honestly, I just use a combination of Windows Defender (built into Windows 10), Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin, and safe browsing practices. Don't try to install strange executables, and if you ever need to torrent anything for any reason, it's best to both download something with a bunch of seeders and review the comments beforehand.

 

Otherwise, there's no critical need for anything beyond Windows Defender and an ad blocker.

[Timelord]

so, I've had my current computer for about... four years? very happy with it, haven't had any trouble really.
 
But something that has been nagging at the back of my head is that 3rd party product Microsoft Security Essentials has been discontinued, and replaced with the built-in  1st party Windows Defender. MSE came highly recommended by PZC alumni back in the day and did a good job.  However, despite having had no problems, I'm wary of something that "came with" the current PC. I feel like I'm far better off using something else. 

What is everyone's take? What's the popular AV out there? 

I'm not just asking for myself, but for my girlfriend too, who is running Windows 8. I myself use Windows 10.

Anything is better than WD: It false flags ZC and a bunch of other open-src software and will make you go bonkers. How much software do you download from untrusted sources?

[Saffith]

Probably more than you think. You don't have to run malicious executables to get malware. It can be delivered by JavaScript, or it can be embedded in PDF or Word files. Even if you're only opening files from sources you trust, you still have to trust that those sources have not themselves been compromised. Even third-party ads on otherwise safe sites are a common attack vector. By design or by mistake, all sorts of programs let data files run arbitrary code that can modify the system without your knowledge. It's probably possible to do so with ZC, as well, though I'd be surprised if anyone bothered.

Here are recent results from AV-TEST and AV-Comparitives. They both give Windows Defender top marks in threats blocked, though they differ in other areas.

[Rambly]

Anything other than Windows Defender: It's the first thing that I disable on any Win10 machine.

Throwing rocks, is better protection, than that.

Anything is better than WD: It false flags ZC and a bunch of other open-src software and will make you go bonkers. How much software do you download from untrusted sources?

You replied to the OP twice. Just so you know.

Speaking mostly anecdotally here, but maybe 50-60% of the software I use on Windows is open source and I have never, ever had Windows Defender false flag anything I use as malware.  Even if it did, it'd be easy to reverse anyway.  The only Zelda Classic-related false positive I've gotten is from zcmusic.dll, which a) only happens with older versions of ZC; b) hasn't happened in forever anyway.  And all I did then was just told Windows not to treat it as a trojan.

 

It's fair to say that there's better anti-virus programs, but it's pretty wantonly irresponsible to just tell people that not having an anti-virus is better than Windows Defender.  Saffith already touched upon the potential attack vectors that aren't just downloading untrusted executables, and Windows Defender is a good option for most people: Windows Defender is fast, which in my experience Avast tends to cause all sorts of performance issues if it's running.  Plus it's free, and most people already have it installed anyway; people can look to see if there's anything better, but it's going to be tough to find anything better that's also free.

 

It's possible that you're conflating Windows Defender with Windows SmartScreen, which does actually have a tendency to produce false positives if you download a program that's not extremely popular.  Not that that's hard to get around, but I wouldn't blame people for disabling SmartScreen specifically.