Leaving ESET Nod32 for Microsoft Defender?

I use my bank's app with PIN before any transactions and messages after every transaction. It is just so much convenient. If you use banking on your pc, I suggest using only on your home wifi. Also type in your banks address yourself and make sure it has https. Plus turn on 2 way authentication if available. And of course transaction messages are a must. Windows Security with its firewall will take care of the rest. No need to worry unless you become the unfortunate victim of a targeted attack. Then God save you. Because no matter how strong of a system you create, if a criminal is willing he will find a way to crack through given enough time and resources. Call your bank and police if that happens.

 

yes, but if you lose the icon its already to late and you have been pawned. for example if you notice issues while a ransomeware is running and encrypting files such programs are intelligent and have encrypted almos all files that are not accessed. current machines are too fast for stopping malware by user - forget this idea. thats the idea behind using standard user accounts in windows and elevate only if needed.

 

Run regular backups to a share that can only has accessed by the account you backup with. Then take that share offline when done. The odds of ransomware being able to touch it would be near zero.

 

backup strategy: 3-2-1
3 local copies
2 separate storage devices
1 external copy

(3) check
(2) check
(1) dont have, dont care

at least i had no impact since 199x, 1999 norton detect some bcd virus (win9x), not sure if signature or for real. may happened due to boot manager.

i trust my concept, is a composite of software and intelligent behavior. once set, never forget

but i get offtopic. i would trust eset as i used it for many years, but for now and windows 10 i use windows defender and do not investigate into other solutions which are expensive. reason is that i "developed" my own cave for unknown software years ago. it grows and changes in time. i have build my own security concept which is similiar to capabilities of current antivirus.

the major issue of current builds is the intrusion into software which is itself secure, it causes issues where not needed. eset may trigger it where defender is calm, but has advantage on other features. its a matter of balance. eset would be a first choice if i wont use a grown concept. antivirus is a nice to have, but its only one wheel in bigger world. current i use - for years now - only windows defender. its an experience for me which has not ended yet.

 

I do believe there is plenty of malware available for Windows, but that doesn't mean it can magically infect you. Drive by attacks on home users are mostly a thing of the past, because hackers reserve these valuable zero days for attacks on companies. And if you download software from well known software sites, it's not likely you will become infected.

However, AV's will always be needed. And let us not forget about sophisticated supply chain attacks, it happened on Windows and macOS when legitimate software like CCleaner and Transmission were trojanized. On Windows we got lucky, but on the macOS 7000 people got infected with ransomware. That's why I still believe it makes sense to use extra layers on top of AV, like behavior blockers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KeRanger

 

A silly analogy: Fred says, "I just bought a new car and they put tires on it for free!" Sam retorts, "Well, I just bought Windows and they threw in Windows Defender for free."

The tires were not free -- they just were not separately priced. Windows Defender was not free. It just was not separately priced.

Linux is free. Windows is not. Neither is Windows Defender. Microsoft is not a charitable organization.
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I well remember what happened in "the old days," after Microsoft incorporated Internet Explorer (IE) into Windows. IE soon drove other browsers out of existence. Lacking competition, IE quickly degenerated into a lousy browser and a honey pot for malware.

Many predict that Windows Defender will eventually cause the demise of most other AVs. If so, Windows Defender will be tantamount to an AV monopoly. Will there then be a repeat of the situation when IE became tantamount to a browser monopoly?

Without any meaningful competition, I wonder if MS will continue to spend big bucks on keeping Defender at the top of its protective power? Or will it degenerate, as IE did?

 

All very good points.

 

The thing is, many ordinary users around the world do not think about Windows not being free. They get it preinstalled when they buy a laptop or somehow activated when they build a desktop from their local stores if you know what I mean. We know it comes with a price tag but we do not think about it. And we treat Windows Defender as such.

Good point. That is why we as users and consumers should always choose what best suits our needs and not be blindly loyal to a single brand or product. That way companies will be on their toes and compete and innovate.

 

It won't degenerate because M$ is trying to gain a foothold in the corporate IT security sector, that's why Microsoft Defender ATP is actually doing quite good and now they are planning to buy Mandiant, which is a well known company.

 

Indeed, they will because Enterprise/Defender ATP is big $$$ business and the benefits trickle down to M$ Defender.

 

defender on a private machine always will have benefit from paid customers (eg ATP). dont you noticed that any free antivirus of xyz had benefit from its paid business builds? one exception is ESET, and ESET focussed on its business, not buying any system cruncher (like avast did with devastating piriform)

 

We can cay similar for paid for versions - they always get benefits from free versions. Users of free versions send back data and telemetry which improves protections for paid version users. That's one of the reasons that vendors offer free version of their software.

 

BOTTOM LINE: (a) Life is not fair & (b) nothing is truly free. Oh well....