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:

> 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.

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...

>
>
> "A.H." wrote:
>

>
> 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.

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:

> "Max" <Max@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:6EDE60AF-D062-4EE7-8624-420919229833@microsoft.com...

>
> 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. :P) manages to run them at a desirable setting. I myself do play with these games, but I still don't like knowing that once something goes through the first layer of protection, I'm dead..or my computer is anyway. Well that's just me, because I'm still schooling and I don't think my parents will take it too lightly that my computer breaks down every few months.

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
http://www.vistarip.com


A.H. wrote:

> 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?

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.

http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html

"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:

> 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?
>
>

On Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:48:37 -0800, "A.H." <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:

> What does Windows Defender really protects and scans for?
>
> Does Windows Defender protects against all the known virus, spyware &
> adware?

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
http://spywarewarrior.com/asw-test-guide.htm

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

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

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:

> http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html
>
> "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:
>

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