Do I need Windows Defender or not?

[Guest]

I have Windows Live OneCare on my Vista Home Premium computer. I also
noticed that there is a separate entry for Windows Defender under All
Programs, but every time I click on it, it tells me that Windows Defender is
turned off. I'm pretty sure Windows Defender is now an integrated part of
Windows Live OneCare. If that is the case, can I safely uninstall the other
incidence of Windows Defender? It's not listed on the Add/Remove programs
list in the Control Panel.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Shane Nokes]

It doesn't install another instance of Windows Defender.

It actually integrates the functionality into OneCare so there's nothing to
uninstall really.

I just delete the shortcut so I'm not tempted to try to start it up.

 

[Richard]

Just goes to show you how out of touch the security team at Microsoft is
with the real world.

First they push out Defender. Actually a good utility.

Then, without telling anyone they add Defender functionality into
LiveOneCare. It is designed to turn off Defender each time you boot. But you
the user don't know that is going on and it looks like a worm has started to
shut down your protection utilities. You panic and start to run virus and
spyware scans, etc.

Only by reading the Defender Teams blog did I learn what they had done.
These folks need a real talking too.

Richard.

 

[Shane Nokes]

What are you talking about?

It doesn't turn off Defender, it merely integrates the functionality into
the main interface of OneCare.

Maybe you should complain about Norton.

I install Norton Utilities and then went to Norton Systemworks.

Now I've found that I can only access the utilities through the Systemworks
interface.

How dare they....see how moronic that sounds?

 

[Guest]

Thank you very much Shane. I think I'll delete it from the list too so I'm
not tempted to start it up again. LOL

 

[Shane Nokes]

No problem Larry.

I'll talk to one of the guys on the OneCare team and ask if they can see
about fixing the UI inconsistency at least though