Microsoft Bombs Antivirus Tests Yet Again

[Paul Wagenseil]

appears this is more a case of personal preference, on my PC dit defender does not even start where avast does!

Do you have them both installed? If so, uninstall one of them -- not a good idea to run two separate AV products side-by-side.

 

[ddt529]

Proprietary software vendors will tell you a different story. Some of those high scoring AVs on this list render those apps unusable. Personally, knowing how to safely navigate the web and access email does far more to prevent infections than any robust AV suite will. I use security essentials on win7 and defender on win8 with malwarebytes as a secondary manual scanner. Cannot remember the last time I got a virus. Also let's talk about ransomware such as cryptowall. A lot of the AVs don't even detect it. Yeah...I'll pass on this evaluation.

 

[Fr33Th1nk3r]

1 word. Linux.

 

[computertech82]

I use avira myself. It has been ranking well for a year or 2.

 

[chittychitty]

Because Bitdefender is first on the list, I downloaded a trial version of their antivirus to give it a shot. The first thing it tried to do, before the software was even installed, was to uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials! If I was a casual user they may have even gotten away with it, but I run other software that prevents sneaky moves like that.

I don't trust Bitdefender, and now I don't trust av-test.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

Because Bitdefender is first on the list, I downloaded a trial version of their antivirus to give it a shot. The first thing it tried to do, before the software was even installed, was to uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials! If I was a casual user they may have even gotten away with it, but I run other software that prevents sneaky moves like that.

I don't trust Bitdefender, and now I don't trust av-test.

That's exactly what the Bitdefender software should be doing. You don't want to have two different AV solutions running on the same PC, as such a setup would create a substantial performance hit.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I had a relative on my wife's side who was having problems. The computer was essentially unusable and I was asked to take a look at it. Having been down this road before, I asked if she was using AV and malware software, and she said yes, Defender / SE.

I keep 30 day trials on a CD that I took over there and installed one of those mentioned here .... it took several passes but it found over 1200 infections. After that I still had to remove 3 or 4 of them manually.

 

[Kadathan]

@Jacknaylor This is my experience. People who say "Defender is all that's necessary! I have it and I never get malware!" Are being naieve. It means you don't click on stupid links, fake buttons, and you know how to safely navigate. It doesn't mean your stock, free AV is the best thing ever, it means you're being safe. Unfortunately many people don't have the experience or knowledge to be safe on the net, and sometimes even the safe people end up exposed some way or another, and in these cases windows defender isn't enough. If you're going around recommending only defender, stop doing that, you're putting people at risk for absolutely no reason.
It's like telling someone else they don't need a helmet because you ride a bike all the time, and never fall off of it or hit anything, so they must also be super good at it and it's completely safe. What's right for you may not be right for others or right at all.

 

[Alpha3031]

I had a relative on my wife's side who was having problems. The computer was essentially unusable and I was asked to take a look at it. Having been down this road before, I asked if she was using AV and malware software, and she said yes, Defender / SE.

I keep 30 day trials on a CD that I took over there and installed one of those mentioned here .... it took several passes but it found over 1200 infections. After that I still had to remove 3 or 4 of them manually.

If you're going for a on demand scanner, Malwarebytes is definitely very good, and the on demand part is free. For normal use a thirty day trial is nice and all, and good for convincing someone to buy it, but a computer usually needs AV for more than that.

 

[Paul Wagenseil]

I had a relative on my wife's side who was having problems. The computer was essentially unusable and I was asked to take a look at it. Having been down this road before, I asked if she was using AV and malware software, and she said yes, Defender / SE.

I keep 30 day trials on a CD that I took over there and installed one of those mentioned here .... it took several passes but it found over 1200 infections. After that I still had to remove 3 or 4 of them manually.

If you're going for a on demand scanner, Malwarebytes is definitely very good, and the on demand part is free. For normal use a thirty day trial is nice and all, and good for convincing someone to buy it, but a computer usually needs AV for more than that.

Malwarebytes is great if you're already infected and you need to remove things. But it won't do much, if anything, to prevent infection in the first place.

The nice thing is that since it's not really antivirus software, it won't interfere with the real thing. The optimal setup is to have serious AV software to block infection, and Malwarebytes to scan weekly or so (it'll pick up the non-malicious things that AV software often ignores, like browser hijackers). And then, of course, account segregation, EMET, etc....

 

[Alpha3031]

Malwarebytes is great if you're already infected and you need to remove things. But it won't do much, if anything, to prevent infection in the first place.

The nice thing is that since it's not really antivirus software, it won't interfere with the real thing. The optimal setup is to have serious AV software to block infection, and Malwarebytes to scan weekly or so (it'll pick up the non-malicious things that AV software often ignores, like browser hijackers). And then, of course, account segregation, EMET, etc....

I did say on demand.

 

[daglesj]

In the long run Unchecky is probably more effective then any of them for the usual user.