Windows Defender

[wonderent]

More appreciation for comments on my update post

which led to additional opinions.

I was surprised when I read that

The Terrorist stays away from Windows Defender.

I've used it ever since the last shows of CFH were on G4

and they semi applauded it. I thought I was doing well!!!!

[i will admit, however, that I never know what it has done,

and as far as I can tell, it has never found anything!!!]

I use Adaware and Spysweeper along with Windows Defender

and did not download Spybot on this particular computer

because about the time I got it [last fall],

I read on this board that some were having some

spybot problems. I didn't understand them exactly, so I just

didn't add it ...even though I had it on all previous computers.

Will appreciate any input.

nancy

[Matt]

Windows Defender definately isnt bad to have on your computer; it certainly isnt a rouge program. However, many poeple question the business ethics of microsoft, supposing that at a price, malware can pay their way out of the detection rules. This has never really been 100% confirmed or denied. Others just think its detection isn't as good as other available programs. If you find you're having success, theres no harm in keeping it.

[shanenin]

at a price, malware can pay their way out of the setection rules.

You mean malware companys can pay to make sure defender does not remove them? If that is what you mean, that seems really unlikely.

[Matt]

Yes. As I stated, these were just speculations floating around a while ago, and nothing was realy settled on the matter. Most of them spawned when Microsoft began speeking of acquiring the advertising company Claria. During that time period, it was noted that Claria adware had been signifcantly lowered on MSAS's threat list. In the end, things worked out fine, and Windows Defender seems to detect most things as any reputable AS tool would. However, this event caused a lot of unrest in the anti-malware and consumer communities.

Windows Defender is still a highly rated tool, and no sign of "corruption" has really been noted since then. Some people just choose not to use it becaue they find better success with other applications.

[TheTerrorist_75]

I prefer using Panda over Microsoft's Defender. I have had great results and support using their anti-virus/firewall setup for the past 5 years. I use Spyware Blaster and AdAware in addition to Panda. I stopped using SpyBot when it didn't find anything more than the others did. I don't really like infusing too much MS programs on my PC. I only use IE for updates and Opera for my main browsing. I do not do automatic updates. I wait and see if there are issues reported before downloading and installing the updates. Since my install of XP I have had only one issue which was caused by a Nvidia graphics driver that XP didn't like.

[wonderent]

Matt - I really appreciate your time. This clears up the

question. Since I only use it to scan, I'll just keep it.

[The thing I don't likeabout it is that

I've never known if or what it discovers!]

[wonderent]

Terrorist -

I missed your reply...think I was writing at the same time.

Appreciate it very much. Like I said, I don't actually

leave the Defender running, so guess it's okay. Also,

I primarily use the Firefox browser to be safer and feel

even better about it after what you wrote.

Thanks for mentioning Spybot. I'll just stay with the three

I'm using after seeing that. nancy