Windows Defender and Vista

[Osaban]

It's not listed in Control Panel/Programs and features, there is a folder in Computer/local Disk/Program files, and as far as I can tell one can only disable it.

If I ever wanted to uninstall it, deleting the folder wouldn't be enough. Any opinions?

[AKAJohnDoe]

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO UNINSTALL WINDOWS DEFENDER!

At least not in Vista. In XP, try this (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555957).

You can, however, easily turn it off like this (http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/31d797aa-091d-4d67-a556-dbfaf21bf0dc1033.mspx) and this (http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/13f74d76-344a-4dcc-9284-7ab43d9171b21033.mspx). And, of course, you can stop the service from initializing at startup, too.

.

[Osaban]

Thanks, I know how to disable it, and quite frankly I can live with it. I suppose it is integrated with Vista so that the average user has some kind of protection against spyware.

As Vista is so bloated with processes I thought about uninstalling some unnecessary stuff.

[AKAJohnDoe]

You might find this (http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm) useful, if you have not already found it. The "Safe" column eliminates quite a bit right off the bat.