what does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?

What does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?

Does Windows Defender protects against all the known virus, spyware &
adware?

That means I no longer need Norton or MacAfee or Micro Trend Antivirus?

 

"A.H." wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> What does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?
>
> Does Windows Defender protects against all the known virus, spyware &
> adware?
>
> That means I no longer need Norton or MacAfee or Micro Trend Antivirus?
>
> I believe that Windows Defender only protects your computer against spywares. I can't be sure though, because it says 'spywares and other malicious softwares', so it'd be best if you don't take my word. <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

In any case, even if Windows Defender defends against adwares, malwares and
spywares, it's always best to have multi-layered protection for your computer
because Windows Defender (or any other anti-malicious-software tools out
there) cannot detect threats every single time.

Cheers.

 

"Max" <Max@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6EDE60AF-D062-4EE7-8624-420919229833@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>
>
> "A.H." wrote:
><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
>> What does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?
>>
>> Does Windows Defender protects against all the known virus, spyware &
>> adware?
>>
>> That means I no longer need Norton or MacAfee or Micro Trend Antivirus?
>>
>> I believe that Windows Defender only protects your computer against
>> spywares. I can't be sure though, because it says 'spywares and other
>> malicious softwares', so it'd be best if you don't take my word.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>
> In any case, even if Windows Defender defends against adwares, malwares
> and
> spywares, it's always best to have multi-layered protection for your
> computer
> because Windows Defender (or any other anti-malicious-software tools out
> there) cannot detect threats every single time.
>
> Cheers.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

Not really. I always belief the minimum software stuff in your system is the
best. These Anti-Virus programs takes up lots of programming powers. And at
least I know of two, Micro Trend in particular, their Vista Anti-Virus
program is itself defective.

Micro Trend Anti-virus Program 2008 blocks Vista program menu change, even
it you disable it. That means, even you delete program menu entries, it will
keep coming back, in your next reboot. Also, it purposely sort your program
menu, even if you re-order it. Our email questions to them went un-answered.

 

"A.H." wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> "Max" <Max@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:6EDE60AF-D062-4EE7-8624-420919229833@microsoft.com...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
> >
> >
> > "A.H." wrote:
> ><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> >> What does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?
> >>
> >> Does Windows Defender protects against all the known virus, spyware &
> >> adware?
> >>
> >> That means I no longer need Norton or MacAfee or Micro Trend Antivirus?
> >>
> >> I believe that Windows Defender only protects your computer against
> >> spywares. I can't be sure though, because it says 'spywares and other
> >> malicious softwares', so it'd be best if you don't take my word.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> >
> > In any case, even if Windows Defender defends against adwares, malwares
> > and
> > spywares, it's always best to have multi-layered protection for your
> > computer
> > because Windows Defender (or any other anti-malicious-software tools out
> > there) cannot detect threats every single time.
> >
> > Cheers.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>
> Not really. I always belief the minimum software stuff in your system is the
> best. These Anti-Virus programs takes up lots of programming powers. And at
> least I know of two, Micro Trend in particular, their Vista Anti-Virus
> program is itself defective.
>
> Micro Trend Anti-virus Program 2008 blocks Vista program menu change, even
> it you disable it. That means, even you delete program menu entries, it will
> keep coming back, in your next reboot. Also, it purposely sort your program
> menu, even if you re-order it. Our email questions to them went un-answered.
>
> Well I don't know about the programming power thing, unless you play some pretty graphics intensive games like 'Crysis' or 'Unreal Tournament 2007' and games along those lines and your computer just (with the italics, but I don't know how. <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

As for the Micro Trend thing, my first reaction to be honest was, 'That's
got to suck, man.' I think they're going to fix it though, because there are
going to be lots of people complaining about it, so most probably they'll
release a fix or new version in early 2008 or something.

Off-topic: [/ROBOT-TALK] I have not heard of Micro Trend before. [ROBOT-TALK]

 

It scans for Adware & Malware. You would need a separate Anti-Virus. A
good free one is AVG Free. Defender works fine, but you may want to run
a second anti-spyware program (Spybot, AdAware). You don't have to run
them as realtime scanners. You can just run them as needed, probably
once a week.

--
Dustin Harper
dharper@vistarip.com



A.H. wrote:<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> What does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?
>
> Does Windows Defender protects against all the known virus, spyware &
> adware?
>
> That means I no longer need Norton or MacAfee or Micro Trend Antivirus?<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

 

Another thing I like least of these Anti-Virus program is, they always seems
to activate itself and starts scanning the most busy time when you need done
something quick. Even if you turn off the scheduled scanning, but, you have
NO option to turn off the self activated system scanning. This goes for
McAfee and Micro Trend. We drop Norton years ago, because it failed to pick
up all the sypware and adware - and require seperate packages.

 

Another thing I like least of these Anti-Virus program is, they always seems
to activate itself and starts scanning at the most busy time when you need
to do
something quick. Even if you turn off the scheduled scanning, but, you have
NO option to turn off the self activated system scanning. This goes for
McAfee and Micro Trend. We drop Norton years ago, because it failed to pick
up all the sypware and adware - and require seperate packages.

 

"Spybot Search and Destroy" is the proper name; "Spybot" is a trojan!
Use the above link!

For anti-virus, use Avast Free 4 Home. It is non-intrusive, and is not
resource hungry.
AND it works!

Defender misses so, so much, and is a drag on your comp!

"A.H." wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> What does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?
>
> Does Windows Defender protects against all the known virus, spyware &
> adware?
>
> That means I no longer need Norton or MacAfee or Micro Trend Antivirus?
>
> <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

 

On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:48:37 -0800, "A.H." <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> What does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?
>
> Does Windows Defender protects against all the known virus, spyware &
> adware?<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->


No, not at all. Three points.

1. It protects against non-viral malware (spyware and adware) only. It
provides *no* antivirus protection.

2. No such product, regardless of what kind or kinds of malware
(viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, adware, etc.) it protects against,
is perfect and nothing protects against "all the known" anythings.

3. Particularly when it comes to adware and spyware, no single product
is anywhere near perfect. Note what Eric Howes, who has done extensive
testing on Anti-Spyware products, states:

"No single anti-spyware scanner removes everything. Even the
best-performing anti-spyware scanner in these tests missed fully one
quarter of the "critical" files and Registry entries" See


You should run at least two anti-spyware products, not just Windows
Defender.

<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> That means I no longer need Norton or MacAfee or Micro Trend Antivirus? <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->


No, it doesn't mean anything like that at all. You still need an
anti-virus program (but preferably not Norton or McAfee, probably the
two *worst* anti-virus programs). And you still need at least one
other anti-spyware program.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

 

"Mick Murphy" wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>
>
> "Spybot Search and Destroy" is the proper name; "Spybot" is a trojan!
> Use the above link!
>
> For anti-virus, use Avast Free 4 Home. It is non-intrusive, and is not
> resource hungry.
> AND it works!
>
> Defender misses so, so much, and is a drag on your comp!
>
> "A.H." wrote:
> <!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
> > What does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?
> >
> > Does Windows Defender protects against all the known virus, spyware &
> > adware?
> >
> > That means I no longer need Norton or MacAfee or Micro Trend Antivirus?
> >
> > Hmm. Avast Antivirus, just so you know, scans your computer from the time you switch on your computer to the time you switch it off. Don't get me wrong though, I'm a pretty huge fan of Avast and I still use it. <!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

Another great thing about Avast is that the interface is pretty intuitive.

 

Defender is not a universal medecine for all the virus, spyware & adware
problems. It is a good software that finds a lot of spyware/malware, but it
is NOT an antivirus. It's not a firewall neither.

If you have only Defender installed (and no other security software) then it
make your computer an easy pray for viruses and attacks.

Personally I use Defender once every few days to make a scan of the whole
system. Also I have Ad-Aware installed that I run once a week. It is similar
to Defender, but it's always good to have an alternative since no one can
garantee that Defender (or any other antispyware) will find every single
threat in your system.

As antivirus I use AVIRA, a really cool piece of software that never let me
down for the past 2,5 years (I used it on XP, and now I have it on Vista).
They update their virus definitions several times a day and they have a
quite powerful scanner that scans on the fly every single file you access
(and it is not a resource hog like Norton of Trend Micro). There is a free
edition at (for personal use only) and a commercial
version at (the commercial version
has a built-in antispyware, antiphishing, firewall etc... but the antivirus
scanner is the same as in the free version).

Another thing that IMO every computer should have is a firewall. You have a
very wide spread of possibilities (including free ones). It's up to you to
make a choice. I would recommend Zone Alarm Free that I use for about 1 year
and find simple to configure and use. A firewall protects you from unwanted
connection from (an to) the Internet. You can control what installed program
can or cannot go online without your permission, update itself, or (in the
case of spyware) detect a software that tries to send gathered information
from your system somewhere (troyans, keyloggers etc...). In a few words, you
know what's going through your connection.

What's been said in a previous post about "the less software installed - the
best" is not true. The less security software you have, the more
mal/spy/ad/ware software you'll get. Of course there is no sense in
installing 3 antiviruses, 5 antispywares an 2 firewalls (that would look
like paranoia ) but I would recommend to any user to install
a) an antivirus software (and update the virus definitions daily),
a firewall (or at least turn on the windows firewall, it's not as bad as
a lot of people say or think)
c) an antispyware (at least use Defender a couple time a week, and don't
forget to update the definitions here too!).

Wow! that's a lot of letters I typed here, hopefully someone will find them
useful!


"A.H." <nospam@nospam.com> píse v diskusním príspevku
news:uv2FS1APIHA.4480@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> What does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?
>
> Does Windows Defender protects against all the known virus, spyware &
> adware?
>
> That means I no longer need Norton or MacAfee or Micro Trend Antivirus? <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

 

momo wrote:

< snip ><!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> As antivirus I use AVIRA, a really cool piece of software that never
> let me down for the past 2,5 years (I used it on XP, and now I have
> it on Vista).<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

Could you tell me how many viruses this cool piece of software has found in the last 2.5 years ?
If it hasn't let you down, then it must have found lots of virusus.
Please post details, you should find lots of information in the antivirus log file.
Thanks very much.
..

 

"bomb#20" <darkstar@home> wrote in message
news:uYydnTKkUpYKYP3aRVnyjgA@giganews.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> momo wrote:
>
> Could you tell me how many viruses this cool piece of software has found
> in the last 2.5 years ?
> If it hasn't let you down, then it must have found lots of virusus.
> Please post details, you should find lots of information in the antivirus
> log file.
> Thanks very much.
> .<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

I our case in this office with around over 20+ computers, no virus was ever
found for 3 years since I am here. We have Norton, McAfee and Micro Trend.
Only those so call virus was found were cookies.

 

"ARH" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message news:uu6Hx5ZPIHA.3556@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> "bomb#20" <darkstar@home> wrote in message
> news:uYydnTKkUpYKYP3aRVnyjgA@giganews.com...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
>> momo wrote:
>>
>> Could you tell me how many viruses this cool piece of software has found
>> in the last 2.5 years ?
>> If it hasn't let you down, then it must have found lots of virusus.
>> Please post details, you should find lots of information in the antivirus
>> log file.
>> Thanks very much.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> I our case in this office with around over 20+ computers, no virus was ever
> found for 3 years since I am here. We have Norton, McAfee and Micro Trend.
> Only those so call virus was found were cookies. <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

You use three AVs on one machine? Or, those three are used separately
on different machines?

I certainly hope your IT guy doesn't run those three in real-time
at once. That's just ignorant.

I use NOD32 on all my machines and ClamWin as an on-demand
second opinion.


-Michael

 

On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:37:57 -0800, "ARH" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>I our case in this office with around over 20+ computers, no virus was ever
>found for 3 years since I am here. <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

Really?
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>We have Norton, McAfee and Micro Trend. <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

Oh, that explains why nothing was found.

 

Straight Talk wrote:<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:37:57 -0800, "ARH" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
>> I our case in this office with around over 20+ computers, no virus
>> was ever found for 3 years since I am here.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>
> Really?
><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
>> We have Norton, McAfee and Micro Trend.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>
> Oh, that explains why nothing was found.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

What antivirus software do you use ?
When did you last get a virus ?
..

 

"MICHAEL" <u158627_emr2@dslr.net> wrote in message
news:uqaLB%23ZPIHA.5164@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> "ARH" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:uu6Hx5ZPIHA.3556@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
>> "bomb#20" <darkstar@home> wrote in message
>> news:uYydnTKkUpYKYP3aRVnyjgA@giganews.com...<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
>>> momo wrote:<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>> I our case in this office with around over 20+ computers, no virus was
>> ever found for 3 years since I am here. We have Norton, McAfee and Micro
>> Trend. Only those so call virus was found were cookies.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>
> You use three AVs on one machine? Or, those three are used separately
> on different machines?
>
> I certainly hope your IT guy doesn't run those three in real-time
> at once. That's just ignorant.
>
> I use NOD32 on all my machines and ClamWin as an on-demand
> second opinion.
>
>
> -Michael<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

No, we have over 30+ machines. Each machine only use one antivirus program.
Typically these antivirus programs comes pre-installed in the systems, such
as Dell or HP...

 

"ARH" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message news:uN3DlLbPIHA.3676@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> "MICHAEL" <u158627_emr2@dslr.net> wrote in message
> news:uqaLB%23ZPIHA.5164@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
>> "ARH" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
>> news:uu6Hx5ZPIHA.3556@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
>>> "bomb#20" <darkstar@home> wrote in message
>>> news:uYydnTKkUpYKYP3aRVnyjgA@giganews.com...
>>>> momo wrote:
>>> I our case in this office with around over 20+ computers, no virus was
>>> ever found for 3 years since I am here. We have Norton, McAfee and Micro
>>> Trend. Only those so call virus was found were cookies.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>>
>> You use three AVs on one machine? Or, those three are used separately
>> on different machines?
>>
>> I certainly hope your IT guy doesn't run those three in real-time
>> at once. That's just ignorant.
>>
>> I use NOD32 on all my machines and ClamWin as an on-demand
>> second opinion.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> No, we have over 30+ machines. Each machine only use one antivirus program.
> Typically these antivirus programs comes pre-installed in the systems, such
> as Dell or HP... <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

IMO, using the same AV for all computers makes much
more sense. Having some type of free AV for an on-demand
"second opinion" can be helpful, too.


-Michael

 

On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:15:54 -0000, "bomb#20" <darkstar@home> wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>Straight Talk wrote:<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
>> On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:37:57 -0800, "ARH" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
>><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
>>> I our case in this office with around over 20+ computers, no virus
>>> was ever found for 3 years since I am here.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>>
>> Really?
>><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
>>> We have Norton, McAfee and Micro Trend.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>>
>> Oh, that explains why nothing was found.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>
>What antivirus software do you use ?<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

None.
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>When did you last get a virus ?<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

Many years ago.

 

Em Quinta, 13 de Dezembro de 2007 15:37, ARH escreveu:

<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> I our case in this office with around over 20+ computers, no virus was
> ever found for 3 years since I am here. <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
That is not normal at all, with all the malware out there, you guys never
catch one??
Are those Anti-virus working at all?

We have norton corporated on a network of > 200 Pc's and it catch about 100
virus every day... busy, busy, busy norton...