Question is Microsoft Security enough vs viruses ?

[zTohka]

Hye i 've purchased my pc two weeks ago and so far i haven't downloaded any protect apps

i heard someone said that Microsoft Security is enough so what do you think guys ?

 

[WildCard999]

As long as your not going to sketchy websites or downloading things you shouldn't be then Windows Defender is enough.

 

[zTohka]

As long as your not going to sketchy websites or downloading things you shouldn't be then Windows Defender is enough.

when i download files i always scan them in virustotal i think im safe

 

[Deleted member 14196]

i haven't had any troubles. but i don't do naughty things either. Defender is the easiest on resources in my experience. all the others seem to beat my poor notebook into submission.

 

[Finstar]

I haven't used anything other than windows defender for 6 years now and so far nothing has disappeared from my bank account without my permission.

 

[scout_03]

you could a free antivirus software like avast .

 

[USAFRet]

when i download files i always scan them in virustotal i think im safe

"download files"....from where?

The best AV is that which lives between your ears.

 

[brian badonde]

Avast is actually decent/doesnt use too much in the background (you can select to just install a few things which is what i've done, but if you know your quite "savvy" then Windows defender will be totally fine for you anyway.

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

I mean, sure it will work. The things that will really keep you safe from viruses, though, are your general habits. Mostly it is common sense stuff too, like don't click links from people you don't know, don't run programs from unknown sources, secure your browser so it isn't running harmful scripts, and keep your computer up to date with security patches and such. For nearly a decade I ran my PC without anything but a firewall and never got a virus of any kind because I followed the basic security rules. Follow basic security practices religiously and Windows Defender will be just fine.

 

[Finstar]

The most common security threats you come across are download links on the internet that try to bait you into downloading a piece of malware usually masked as something "useful".
As long as you have some understanding of computers and a bit of common sense, you can easily avoid all these without needing any software to protect you.
Of course your grandma who sees "Cool epic awesome toolbar download 100% free" and decides to download it without hesitation would need a good anti-malware program to protect her retirement funds.

Much less common but far more serious security threat would be a targeted attack, where a hacker tries to gain access specifically to your system.
This usually doesn't happen unless a hacker knows you have data that they want to steal or destroy on your computer.
In this case you'd need pretty heavy duty anti-malware and firewall to keep your data safe.
The chances of this happening to an average joe however are extremely slim, unless they have some important company data on their pc in which case the company would likely have provided them with proper data protection anyways.
This is also why most servers have an extremely beefy security system in place as they usually are the go to target for such attacks.

 

[MPF-Dean]

best practice even if just a regular user of your own PC, is to set up an admin account with a good password (remember the more chars the better, not something short and random)

then create your own user account as a standard user, do whatever you like to your hearts content. just read the UAC prompts if doing "naughty" things, to make sure you aren't executing anything you shouldnt

in the back ground defender is enough to scan and remove the malware - the only problem starts when you run it when privileges, the above stops that

 

[ElectrO_90]

For me, what's as important is a decent firewall, so even if you do get infected and your antivirus doesn't see it, you would see different traffic going in and out of your computer system.
I use Comodo Firewall and Antivirus, but also Glasswire as that software is amazing.

Also if you are using the web and need something like Printer Drivers or some other driver for your motherboard, NEVER use any site apart from the original manufacturers site, eg. Epson Printer, go to Epson.com, not some other site that may be at the top of google. As silly as that sounds, there is a lot of software out there that says it will update your drivers for you... be very wary of them and also don't be so lazy, and do it yourself 😀

You should also have some Anti-Malware software as well, my fav is ZHPCleaner, but some people find it hard to use, so I recommend Malwarebytes to people who want something a bit simpler.