Windows Defender?

[Guest]

My Acer with Windows Home Premium came with Windows Defender. I loaded a 90
free trial of Norton Protection Center at the suggestion of the Geek Squad.
The free part is ending soon. I have not had any problems. Do I really need
any protection other than Defender?

 

[GTS]

Yes you do. Defender is a (mediocre) anti-spyware program. You need at the
least an antivirus program as well.

 

[Charlie42]

My Acer with Windows Home Premium came with Windows Defender. I loaded a
90
free trial of Norton Protection Center at the suggestion of the Geek
Squad.
The free part is ending soon. I have not had any problems. Do I really
need
any protection other than Defender?

Yes, you do. Windows Defender is an anti spyware program, it doesn't protect
you against viruses, trojans or other malware.

The least you need in addition to Defender is a firewall (you can use the
one included in Windows Vista), and some kind of anti virus program. Of
course you also need to keep your operating system updated. If you don't
feel you need the Norton suite, there are several cheaper - or even free -
alternatives to be found.

Here's a site with Microsoft's recommendations for home computer security:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/default.mspx

Charlie42

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My Acer with Windows Home Premium came with Windows Defender. I loaded a 90
free trial of Norton Protection Center at the suggestion of the Geek Squad.
The free part is ending soon. I have not had any problems. Do I really need
any protection other than Defender?

Definitely!

For adequate protection, you need three all types of software:

1. An anti-virus program. Windows Defender does nothing to protect you
against viruses, and no anti-virus program is included with Windows.

2. Anti-spyware programs (note the plural "programs." Windows Defender
is an example of this, but a single anti-spyware product--even the
best one--is *not* good enough. Note what Eric Howes, who has done
extensive testing on Anti-Spyware products, states:

"No single anti-spyware scanner removes everything. Even the
best-performing anti-spyware scanner in these tests missed fully one
quarter of the "critical" files and Registry entries" See
http://spywarewarrior.com/asw-test-guide.htm

3. A firewall program. You can use the built-in Windows one, or choose
a third-party one instead.

My view, by the way, is that anything Norton is the *worst* possible
software you can get. There are many better alternatives.

My view of the Geek Squad is similar to my view of Norton products.
They are not a company I would recommend using.

 

[Hertz_Donut]

My Acer with Windows Home Premium came with Windows Defender. I loaded a
90
free trial of Norton Protection Center at the suggestion of the Geek
Squad.
The free part is ending soon. I have not had any problems. Do I really
need
any protection other than Defender?

Defender should be re-named Defenseless.

Defender is worse than useless.

The only thing that Defender can offer is a completely false sense of
security.

Did I mention that Defender is worthless?

Do yourself a favor...buy Norton 360.

Honu

 

[AJ's Mail]

A lot feel that defender may provide some protecion against spyware and
malware but may have issues with the threat of viruses in the wild..Norton
is a good choice. if it hasn't caused you any issues. If i may suggest
register the program to fully protect you from advanced virus signatures out
there