is windows defender any good

Millionaire

ARTHUR wrote: »

I have just re-read my question what I meant to say is that my mate told me that windows defender would give me real time protection from SPYWARE/MALAWARE, .

It is real-time, but it isn't very good.

closed

defender is part of mse, if you have vista, you may have defender already.

If you've got avira, you don't really need any more realtime scanners. If avira missed it in the first place, try avast

aliEnRIK

closed wrote: »

defender is part of mse, if you have vista, you may have defender already.

If you've got avira, you don't really need any more realtime scanners. If avira missed it in the first place, try avast

Id have to disagree

The only 'free' realtime scanner I know of thats worth anything is PCTOOLS spyware doctor
The problem with doctor is its very limited in what it would move.
Avira, Avast, AVG and MSE are all very poor with malware

closed

I see no distinction between malware/spyware/virus/trojans etc - If the malware is in their database, there is no reason why a virus scanner can't handle spyware/malware/any infection before it hits the hard disk, it's just another infection/signature, so it all comes down to detection rates, fast turnaround of new signatures, and quality of the scanning engine (most of which scan web traffic nowadays before it gets near the disk engine)

iamcornholio

I have windows defender on an Acer netbook. I put it on because its lightweight, free and does not slow the machine down.

I've not had any issues with it, however I only tend to use this netbook for certain things, access certain websites, and am careful what sites I connect to. I would not have just this on my main PC, and use AVG pro instead

fiddiwebb

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Id have to disagree

The only 'free' realtime scanner I know of thats worth anything is PCTOOLS spyware doctor
The problem with doctor is its very limited in what it would move.
Avira, Avast, AVG and MSE are all very poor with malware

Not a keen fan of PCTools and yes Avira, Avast, AVG and MSE are all very poor with malware but do an excellent job as AV scanners but were they ever designed to work with malware in the first place?

You can upgrade to the pay for version of Superantispyware which has a real time scanner and I think they have a deal on at the moment for $9.99

fiddiwebb

closed wrote: »

I see no distinction between malware/spyware/virus/trojans etc - If the malware is in their database, there is no reason why a virus scanner can't handle spyware/malware/any infection before it hits the hard disk, it's just another infection/signature, so it all comes down to detection rates, and quality of the scanning engine (most of which scan web traffic nowadays)

But there is not one scanner as far as I'm aware that will do all of that, if there was then we would all be using it.

closed

All the decent ones should scan for everything. The distinction between the different types is just marketing. Putting a second product on there, will just slow your pc down, because everything is scanned twice.

http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download#tab2

spud17

You can upgrade to the pay for version of Superantispyware which has a real time scanner and I think they have a deal on at the moment for $9.99

Yes, it's a permanent 'today only' sale.

But still a useful product to have alongside Malwarebytes and SpyBot.

aliEnRIK

fiddiwebb wrote: »

Not a keen fan of PCTools and yes Avira, Avast, AVG and MSE are all very poor with malware but do an excellent job as AV scanners but were they ever designed to work with malware in the first place?

You can upgrade to the pay for version of Superantispyware which has a real time scanner and I think they have a deal on at the moment for $9.99

Totally agree, just pointing out the only free one I know of thats worth anything