Windows Defender

[aekyall]

My Kaspersky anti virus (paid) runs out soon and I'm thinking of ditching it and going with Windows Defender (free). I know it didn't have a very good press a few years ago but believe MS have taken much more of an interest in it in recent years (?) and it now ranks as pretty good (?) - at least that's what I think I'm hearing. Before I do anything drastic, does anyone have any concerns re WD. My only concern is that I use internet banking quite a lot, but I don't (as far as I'm aware) visit 'dodgy' sites.
Any comments, either way, much appreciated.

[HansV]

I have been using Windows Defender / Windows Security Essentials / Windows Security or whatever it is called as my anti-virus application for many years now, and it has not let any malware through.
A scan using online scanners never finds anything.
Apart from that, Windows Defender is pretty unobtrusive. It updates itself and runs scans in the background without causing a noticeable slowdown.

[Rebel]

I will echo Hans' comments on that. I have been using this product (on several different machines) since it was introduced many years ago and I have had no problems whatsoever. I also do the occasional manual scan with Malwarebytes (also the free version) and I'm quite comfortable with both products. Did I mention that they're both ?

[stuck]

Another vote for Windows Defender or whatever MS are calling it today. I too have used it for years and I've never had anything bad reach my machine(s).

Ken

[Doc.AElstein]

My recent literature search on Windows 10 chucked up so much criticism that when I get time I might give up with windows all together or at least dual boot with Windows and something else, and only use Windows when I must.. But – having said that, even the most critical people did say that the standard security , inclusive of the updates for it, from Microsoft had been good in recent years and continued to be so. Often people recommended using that when they recommended getting rid of or shutting up almost everything else from Microsoft..
So in short, another vote for it.

Balman \ -_- /

[JoeP]

My recent literature search on Windows 10 chucked up so much criticism that when I get time I might give up with windows all together or at least dual boot with Windows and something else, and only use Windows when I must.. But – having said that, even the most critical people did say that the standard security , inclusive of the updates for it, from Microsoft had been good in recent years and continued to be so. Often people recommended using that when they recommended getting rid of or shutting up almost everything else from Microsoft..
So in short, another vote for it.

Balman \ -_- /

You must remember that when you see results in various forums you are mostly looking at problems or complaints. People seldom post praise or that everything is working. Even reviewers often focus on what they perceive to be lacking and not what is improved and working well. That said feel free to abandon Windows or dual boot. BUT, every OS has its quirks and problems.

[aekyall]

Many thanks everyone for your inputs. Reassuring information.

[Doc.AElstein]

...You must remember that when you see results in various forums you are mostly looking at problems or complaints. People seldom post praise or that everything is working. Even reviewers often focus on what they perceive to be lacking and not what is improved and working well. .....

I do take your point, Joe. That is a very valid point.
I try to be as open minded as possible.

I did not look much at Microsoft forums, when recently trying to get clued up on Windows 10. Maybe I should have, and would have slightly more balanced views if I did.
Most Office / Windows based forums seem pro Microsoft.. Even the “independent” ones seem pro Microsoft, at least amongst some of the top members. I have had highly viewed post where I did not criticise a problem with Microsoft, but where I gave good help to people to get over bugs and problems. Those posts necessarily showed Microsoft in a bad light, but that was never my intension:
Last Winter I had planned to come in from the cold building work outside and do my Winter hobby on Excel VBA forums, but spent half the time helping people asking for help who had had the same problem as I with updates breaking things in older operating systems..
After a year or so, the posts of mine are often deleted. Any attempt to question that by the people who did it and I either hit a brick wall or get banned.
At that time I had no idea about Windows 10 and assumed the problems I had been helping with were at least partially understandable as the older operating systems were no longer supported.
I had assumed that Windows 10 would be a big improvement , but had no idea actually about it. I did not have it. ( Windows 10 )
I have got very interested in Microsoft Office and have found it extremely useful in speeding up a very important personal project. I liked it so much that I spent a lot of time contributing to help forums for a few years.

When I started getting clued up on Windows 10 I was 100% only interested in getting clued up on it in order to use it competently. I had no views against it or for it at that time. I collected a lot of information, for example 100s of YouTube videos, made endless play lists without thinking too much about the content, and let them play in the background. I did not collect information based on whether the author was for or against Windows 10. I based the searching on “how to do …… in Windows 10 “

I then became quite shocked by what a lot of people were saying about Windows 10.
I am very reluctant to go away from Microsoft, mainly as I am so keen on Excel VBA. So I will probably go for a Dual boot system and try to keep some stable versions of Office and Windows from the 2003-2013 era.

I think many people think they have Windows 10. They don’t. It has them.

[DaveA]

It is also a known fact that many of the so called better 3rd party programs, do have issues when Windows update and upgrade are done.
They (3rd party) seem not to be involved with the early testing of the updates or upgrades.

It appears that Microsoft does test both the Windows and Security program before releasing either.

We, on 5 Windows 10 machine and before upgrading to 10 on most of them, have been running this Microsoft program for years without issue.