Tangentially: after installing the Service Packs on Vista, you can run compcln.exe from an elevated command prompt to ditch a bunch of uninstall files and free up some disk space. Regarding the topic of scanning with one scanner after another, and seeing which one finds stuff, the message I would take home from it is the value of prevention, prevention, prevention. Given an infected system, I think most of us here find a certain fascination in prodding the rotting meat to watch the maggots squirm, but at the end of the day, my fix is "nuke from orbit using DBAN, then do a fresh installation and SECURE IT THIS TIME."
It is... But.... I've always doubted its use. I do not disable it anymore because I don't see any increase in performance, and I figure an extra layer of defense won't hurt, but to be honest.. I don't know .
Can you explain why? As said, I'm not a huge fan of Defender, but I haven't noticed any drop in performance either.
I actually like Windows Defender, but I never use it, because for me, it does cause slow downs from time to time, and that's reason enough for me to ditch any security software. Of course depending on your hardware and what software you have installed your experience will vary greatly I'm sure. For example I was experiencing 96% CPU use at one point from WSA - and this is definitely not typical behaviour.
Exactly my experience. It is a good compromise having good scanners on demand (Avira and HitmanPro) and WD on with Windows 8. I also think in combination with IE 10 SmartScreen it should provide a basic browsing protection, although I use Chrome most of the time.
