Question Windows defender or something more for gaming?

[Kellerman88]

Hi.

Tried to search on Google to find out if i need a seperate antivirus service for gaming.

Someone say Windows defender is enough, but other recomend programs like Norton, bitdefender and so on. Some antivirus program have a extra service for gamer spesific that often cost more.

Do i need this combined with the Windows defender? What is recomended here and do i need vpn as well when the only thing im using the pc for is playing games?
How common is it really to get virus?

Thanks for some input on this.

 

[Gam3r01]

Windows defender is likely going to be sufficient, especially for gaming.
You dont need a VPN, that is a personal choice but not required for gaming, and could impact your in game latency.
Getting a virus depends entirely on the user. If you stick to gaming, avoid shady sites, dont attempt to pirate games, etc, the chances are slim to none.

 

[randyh121]

Windows Defender is fine as is. Malwarebytes is something I like using sometimes as it lets me customize my antivirus settings a bit more than what Defenders allows.

I'd strongly suggest a VPN if you are doing online gaming to hide your IP. Lots of hostile actors, I've been swatted 3 times

 

[Kellerman88]

Windows defender is likely going to be sufficient, especially for gaming.
You dont need a VPN, that is a personal choice but not required for gaming, and could impact your in game latency.
Getting a virus depends entirely on the user. If you stick to gaming, avoid shady sites, dont attempt to pirate games, etc, the chances are slim to none.

Yes, good to hear it’a very slim chance to non, we pay a lot for the rig and to loose it to a virus would be crazy, reading on the internet about it could brick the computer but some other pages say virus is just a program so it wont be risk to loose the hole computer other then the disc?

I use steam and epic game store, maby some internet browsing on news and only normal sites
Considered to buy a year with another antivirus, but probably just not neccesary as you say defender is good.

 

[Kellerman88]

Windows Defender is fine as is. Malwarebytes is something I like using sometimes as it lets me customize my antivirus settings a bit more than what Defenders allows.

I'd strongly suggest a VPN if you are doing online gaming to hide your IP. Lots of hostile actors, I've been swatted 3 times

I play most story games single player, but i could keep that in mind if i find some online games to play again, so how does it work the vpn? If i but a program like Norton or bitdefense that comes with a offer with vpn, is it automaticly hiding my identity or do i need to activate or do someting first?

 

[randyh121]

Yes, good to hear it’a very slim chance to non, we pay a lot for the rig and to loose it to a virus would be crazy, reading on the internet about it could brick the computer but some other pages say virus is just a program so it wont be risk to loose the hole computer other then the disc?

Virus's can brick a computer but it is very rare. I'd not be worried about it if you are playing normal games. Worst I've experienced was a niche server in a niche game I play every day where this server would install a backdoor on your GPU and fry the hardware after the server banned you. It does happen.
But most viruses are just programs, as you said.

 

[Corwin65]

I play most story games single player, but i could keep that in mind if i find some online games to play again, so how does it work the vpn? If i but a program like Norton or bitdefense that comes with a offer with vpn, is it automatically hiding my identity or do i need to activate or do someting first?

You won't need a VPN for any of the uses you mentioned.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I've stopped trusting almost most third party antivirus software after reading this: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/antivirus-is-bad/

The tl;dr is anti-virus software can actually make your computer less secure in some cases. In the article, it described one vendor who actively forces all applications to bypass the Address space layout randomization feature so that it can snoop on what the application is doing to detect if it's a bad actor or not. Also because AV software is running with high privileges, it better be rock solid, or it itself is a liability (at least Microsoft has a huge incentive to make Windows Defender rock solid). Maybe AV software got better since that article was written, but I'm not particularly keen on that. On top of that, Windows Defender has been scoring pretty high on AV-Test, if that matters to you.

If anything, if the application or something suddenly asks to elevate privileges (i.e., triggers the UAC prompt) and it's not expected or you don't know why it would need it, don't click on "OK". Or better yet, run your daily user account as a local Standard user account so any time the UAC prompt does come up, you have to think about it because it requires you to enter a password. Malware likes to play to people's fatigue of seeing UAC prompts, and realistically speaking they're really rare these days. I almost never see them unless I'm un/installing an app.

 

[Kellerman88]

Ok so i dont need vpn at all for gaming, kinda getting confused the more i read, seems like Norton and bitdefender is on top, but now im not sure if i should buy one or not.

 

[randyh121]

Ok so i dont need vpn at all for gaming, kinda getting confused the more i read, seems like Norton and bitdefender is on top, but now im not sure if i should buy one or not.

Do not buy either.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Ok so i dont need vpn at all for gaming, kinda getting confused the more i read, seems like Norton and bitdefender is on top, but now im not sure if i should buy one or not.

You don't necessarily need third party AV software these days because:

• Traditional viruses are a rare breed these days. Malicious actors aren't really interested in destroying your computer, they're more interested in using it as a slave. What's more useful to one of those people: a broken computer or a computer they can control and say mine bitcoin from it all day?
• The "common sense" internet practices come to mind: don't open email attachments from people you don't know or expect to get something from, don't go to shady websites, and if something asks for any sensitive information out of the blue, really think about it.
• Unless you're someone famous or important, malicious actors aren't going to target you specifically anyway.

I've ditched any sort of third party AV for the past 13+ years and I haven't had a problem with viruses. The last security related incident I had was me falling for a phishing attack, which AV software can't protect you from anyway.

 

[USAFRet]

Ok so i dont need vpn at all for gaming, kinda getting confused the more i read, seems like Norton and bitdefender is on top, but now im not sure if i should buy one or not.

Neither.
The built in Windows Defender is just fine. Add the squishy stuff between your ears, and you'll be OK.

 

[Kellerman88]

Thanks for good advices, anyone know if Windows defender have dark web monitoring included?

This dark web feature is maby only for personal information security and have nothing to do with the virus security on the pc?

 

[hotaru.hino]

This dark web feature is maby only for personal information security and have nothing to do with the virus security on the pc?

The dark web stuff is nothing more than say a more in-depth version of https://haveibeenpwned.com/ . I'd say if you want to spend money on this stuff, find a service that opts you out of data brokers (though that means they just won't have up-to-date info) and just be mindful of what information you share and with who.