Windows 8 Defender Rated Worst Antivirus For Protection

I read this article some weeks ago.
hxxp://techlogon.com/2013/04/05/windows-8-defender-rated-worst-antivirus-for-protection/

And before that I read this one.
hxxp://techlogon.com/2012/12/03/comparison-of-antivirus-software-test-results/

What puzzled me is that according to: hxxp://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/which-is-the-most-popular-antivirus-software/12608
Microsoft is the 2nd most popular AV in the world, with the largest share of North America market. So I am asking myself what do these users know that the testers don't, or for that matter the rest of us? Microsoft claims these tests are not reflective of the real world of the everyday user. Feedback from MSE/Defender users would be most helpful. Thanx.

 

That FREE is a more powerful motivator than any other consideration.

 

This doesn't surprise me.....Microsoft always seems to be ranked very low or lowest in tests. However, I have never had a BSOD due to MSE or Windows Defender - never had my pc crash due to definitions downloaded from them - in fact, never had a virus with them installed. Perhaps other factors are considered in making Microsoft the 2nd most popular AV in the World? Believe me I have tried others, Avast!, Norton, AVG among them and found them to have problems or be a nuisance sometimes. I always seem to return to MS - and so far, so good.....MS, my other apps, and self control have kept me safe on 2 desktops and a laptop. Guess it all depends on the user and what each needs.

 

BINGO! We have a winner.

I was actually surprised to the response I received in another thread recently when I mentioned how software that is "free" seemed to be more important in many people's minds than how effective the product is. The person questioning me about the "free" aspect not only didn't argue against my belief that "free" trumps effective (in many people's minds), but he actually verified that being free was probably his primary consideration as well!

 

Incorrect, MSE was destroying the competition when it first came out. It's gone down either because of it's extreme popularity that malware authors now target it, or because they've reduced the AV workforce.

 

I can assure you free is not a prime consideration in my case. I tried the Avast! Suite and it completely nuked my pc. I pay for many apps - including SAS, MBAM, WinPatrol. I also contribute to some of the free apps from time to time. Free does not always trump effective with me - guess I am not in the lump group "many people" - lol.

I just get tired of people badmouthing Microsoft and reveling in it.

 

I'd say both reasons are right.

 

I can appreciate and understand your desire to set the record straight regarding free versus paid software, but I want to reassure you that my comment did not in any way, shape, form or fashion refer to you or your comment above. It referred to someone in the Bitdefender FREE thread that is over 70 pages long who questioned why I would made the following comment:

 

Why is Microsoft most popular AV in North America and second in the world ?

Well, there are many reasons.
Some of them I guess:

• because it is free for home users, free for small businesses and very cheap for businesses, universities and non-profits.
• Comes from a known and reputable vendor which has the power and resourses - this is strong potential that can be used if necessary.
• Microsoft products are very light, they are fast, simple, non-intrusive, very small installer file, very simple to use.
• They integrate perfectly with any other MS product and they do not make bad things to OS.
• They do not cause troubles like false positives.
• People get free support and is first party product.
• The products are not that bad when it comes to protection - despite test results. Microsoft products are to be combined with other security measures of the OS/environment and never alone. Protection alone is weak - of any product.

Windows Defender works perfectly and silently in the new OS - this is what users want.

By the way - I see BitLocker and Windows Defender as very strong tools and technologies in the security industry - great tool for Microsoft to gain even more marketshare - built-in, free, effective and simple to use - tool that are going to be preffered by many because of this - people will only have to pay for support but not for product and support.

Because of all above reasons MS security products are in my top recommended list.

 

They know the same thing as the IE users (IE has also abt. 56% on the browser market).

 

Because MSE is 'good enough'. Discuss.

 

So does that mean IE users are savvy, ill-informed, or just use what's on the system when they bought it?

 

The same applies to W8D users.

 

Windows Defender is among the lightest and least problematic free antiviruses I've tried. Anything else noticeably slows down startup.

 

Sorry to break your party but MSE wasn't destroying anything when it was still OneCare and it wasn't destorying anything when it came out as MSE. It was just some simple to use average AV. Nothing less and nothing more.

 

According latests AV-test on nearly 11 million sites, Chrome safe browsing let nearly 300 malwares through, considering the fact that it is an AV-test the selection of websites would problably have a higher than average risk profile. I am from 1958 so my chances of dying this year are higher than stumbling on a malware infected website with Chrome... (see -http://mort.soa.org/ and -http://www.av-test.org/fileadmin/pdf/avtest_2013-03_search_engines_malware_english.pdf)

Thera are 'educated security' users who turn off UAC, there are 'educated security' users (on Vista and higher) who prefer FF over Chrome and IE10 (XP has no low rights/app container sandbox), so ....

Regards Kees

 

I do recall some security vendors were worried about it, though. (If memory doesn't fail me, I believe Microsoft put way more effort into MSE than it ever put in OneCare.) Some even mentioned it would be dangerous for MSE to be so widely used, yet they made claims such as The goal of Panda Cloud Antivirus is to be the only anti-malware protection you need for your computer. (Source: -http://news.softpedia.com/news/Softpedia-Exclusive-Interview-Panda-Security-142289.shtml)

I'm mentioning Panda, because I recall a thread here (way back), where a link pointed to a Panda article "worried" about MSE... I couldn't find the Panda article yet, but here's a PC World article about it -https://www.pcworld.com/article/210125/is_microsoft_crossing_the_line_by_pushing_security_essentials.html

So, yes... someone got scared. At the beginning, MSE was actually rated good by some AV testing organization(s). Maybe its success is what makes it be weaker now.