Is Windows Defender with system-wide smart screen enough?

Discussion in 'other anti-virus software' started by garrett76, Dec 2, 2014.

  1. garrett76

    garrett76 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2014
    Posts:
    221
    After seeing the direction that almost every free-antivirus is taking towards more and more bloated programs with useless stuff, I'm thinking of using on all my office's pc just Windows Defender with the system-wide smart screen filter and, from time to time, doing a scan with Malwarebytes free. What do you think? Is it enough protection for an ordinary user?
     
  2. anon

    anon Registered Member

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2012
    Posts:
    7,983
  3. garrett76

    garrett76 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2014
    Posts:
    221
  4. anon

    anon Registered Member

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2012
    Posts:
    7,983
  5. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2008
    Posts:
    8,625
    Location:
    USA
    No. If I were to even try to go with the built in stuff I would at least do Malwarebytes Pro. Probably also EMET.
     
  6. Macstorm

    Macstorm Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2005
    Posts:
    2,642
    Location:
    Sneffels volcano
    Yes, totally.
    I'm running Win 8.1's WD alone for weeks now.
     
  7. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2014
    Posts:
    14,881
    Location:
    Slovenia, EU
    For ordinary, careful person it's enough. I found it heavy on my system, last time i tried it, so you should check how it performs on yours.
     
  8. garrett76

    garrett76 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2014
    Posts:
    221
    So far, I've just noticed a slowdown when I open a folder with many executables inside. System becomes unresponsive for a few seconds, which didn't happen before with Avast or Avira. Not a big issue anyway.
     
  9. trott3r

    trott3r Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2010
    Posts:
    1,283
    Location:
    UK
    Surprised MSE has slowed down a system as i thought the only real selling point for MSE nowadays is its low resource usage.
     
  10. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2014
    Posts:
    2,220
    Trust me.. Defender+Smartscreen isn't enough, enough for ANYTHING.

    It's only slightly better than nothing. If that.
     
  11. DX2

    DX2 Guest

    Watch that utube video that mrizos made about this, you'd be surprised... Its not useless
     
  12. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2007
    Posts:
    6,429
    The resource usage does not tell if it is a fast or slow product while using the PC.
     
  13. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2014
    Posts:
    2,220
    We have clients that insist on using MSE/Defender.

    Guess what they spend most of their money on? Malware removals. It's a bad idea, however you slice it.
     
  14. DX2

    DX2 Guest

    Yes, its definitely not the best out there.
     
  15. TairikuOkami

    TairikuOkami Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 10, 2005
    Posts:
    3,418
    Location:
    Slovakia
    If the user is satisfied with its 83% detection, then yes. But if you use free AV, they are actually not so bloated as their paid versions, so just stick with free versions.
     
  16. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2014
    Posts:
    2,220
    That's despite us telling them if they insist on a free solution - run a free product that actually has some detection capability. (Fortinet, Avira, whatever..) But insisting on a free solution for a business, then spending $1400.00 a month for malware removals and repairs. But you can't tell people things sometimes, and just need to move on - and collect the repair invoice checks.

    83% is being very generous.. I'd say more accurately it's around 60-65% based on some metrics we have from real world threat analysis.
     
  17. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2005
    Posts:
    6,102
    Location:
    on my zx10-r
    mse is worthless and a total waste of time to even install
     
  18. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2014
    Posts:
    2,220
  19. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2005
    Posts:
    5,614
    Location:
    Milan and Seoul
    I really don't know whether MSE is enough or not, as no AV can guarantee 100% detection capabilities. What I find really incredible reading your posts and from other computer techs, how people manage to infect their systems badly (I mean I don't doubt your observations).

    I've been using an AV for many years, and whether there is a detection or not my systems are all sandboxed or virtualized, which isn't the crux of the discussion, the point is that even browsing potentially dangerous websites nothing is ever detected (perhaps a detection in 3 years, which could possibly be a false positive). So how do they get infected?
     
  20. FOXP2

    FOXP2 Guest

    For crying out loud. That dot graphic doesn't mean zero results.

    Zero is the baseline for their 0-6 points scoring.

    These are the results. Crappy, yes. But not zero and NOT "running without AV." :rolleyes:
    EDIT: AV-Test screenshot image removed. This should comply with site policy:
    http://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-8/october-2014/microsoft-windows-defender-4.4-144071/
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 3, 2014
  21. harshisthere

    harshisthere Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2011
    Posts:
    84
    Depends on the user. But if you want to be carefree and use pen drives on your system from carefree people then I will suggest you to use a paid AV with regular updates. Heuristics based antivirus is your best bet.
     
  22. Mortal Raptor

    Mortal Raptor Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2014
    Posts:
    1,013
    Oh ok, thanks for the clarification, I thought it was 0

    Needless to say, since there are many good free AVs out there, I see no reason to settle for a mediocore one such as Defender
     
  23. guest

    guest Guest

    To put it simply, MSE/WD and other mainstream AVs shouldn't have problems in widespread and common malware detection. It's just the zero-day protection thingy that people love to spot. It looks to me that you really want to use WD. If you still have not reach your comfortable point by using it alone, try to pair it with Sandboxie. I have tried that approach for at least 365 days and I am certain that it is one of the most likely effective solutions, as long as you use Sandboxie properly (like not trying to run the web browser unsandboxed because you think that the website is "safe", sandbox it all the time unless when updating, please). MBAM/HMP/EEK for double checkup surely will also help.
     
  24. 142395

    142395 Guest

    I agree, MSE/WD is actually almost "enough" for home user who always follow best practice.
    I know many MSE user who haven't infected (with 2nd opinion scanner), and also wondered like Osaban.
    However, there're risk of 0day exploit though the possibility you come across it is still near to 0 (don't be fooled by security company).
    So it will be better combining some good measure such as Virustotal, SBIE, EMET, Toolwiz, and so on. (not all, just ones you want to add)
    If you don't want to use any 3rd party programs, then you can harden your Windows. There're still many options including SRP, 1806 tricks, script restriction in browser, and there're many registry entries which can increase security.
    If you don't care, using Chrome/Chromium with HTTPSB/uMatrix is also good.

    [EDIT: Also in my experience about Win8 SmartScreen, it seems SS flags most programs which is not prevalent and new. It will be good supplement of WD]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 3, 2014
  25. garrett76

    garrett76 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2014
    Posts:
    221
    Yep, I wonder the same. I had one bad infection many years ago when I started using pc (I still remember it was a worm called "Happytime" :) At that time I had McAfee and was a very unexperienced user.
    But later nothing else. I can hardly remember a detection, even if sometimes I surf potentially dangerous websites. Well, maybe one of the reason is because I use chrome with adblock plus extension and I have enough experience to download software only from well known websites.
    The main problem is the lack of education. Unexperienced people like to click on everything they see on the screen. For example, they want to watch a porn video which requires a special codec, they are offered to download it and boom! here comes the infection. Or they want to use a special software, but they don't put enough attention during the installation process and install other junk. With this kind of people, no antivirus solution is enough, no matter how good it is.
     
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.