Initial Thoughts on Windows Defender

[Guest]

Having downloaded and tried WD beta 2 I must say that I do not like it
compared to its predecessor Antispyware. It may be more 'robust' in it's
protection (although there is no proof of this) but I think that the omission
of the tools included with Antispyware is a retrograde step as far as overall
user security is concerned.
The fact that there is no icon in the notification area to show that WD is
operative is ludicrous and how can such a necessity have been missed -
Antispyware had one.
If I could find out how to I would go back to Antispyware until (?) WD is
sorted out and really ready for use - but for some reason I do not now seem
to be able to download Antispyware.

 

[Guest]

I somewhat agree. Its scan seems faster and more through, but the Browser
Helper Object list and all that isnt there anymore, and I don't like that.
The program itself looks A LOT better (the graphical interface), but the icon
they selected was not that great. A brick wall????, what the heck?

I liked the target much better, but that insinuates that youre a target for
spyware. But the brick wall doesnt look good. They should have something like
a check mark or a green something...

 

[Guest]

And one more thing...

I changed the icon from a brick wall to a green check mark. It looks mad
nice, i love how it looks now. Too bad there isnt a system tray icon, because
although I want the tray to be uncluttered, I want three things there: my
virus scanner (Avast, which is already there), my spyware scanner (windows
defender), and my firewall (i dont have a real firewall, i only have windows
firewall, but thats suffiecient for me)

 

[Guest]

I am also feeling the same about this product.

I know that in this upgrade they were looking to make the interface
simplified for ease of use, but I think they may have made it a little bit
too simple. When someone uses this product, they do not feel very secure.
There is no system tray icon to assure them that it's running and protecting.
There's no scans going on in the background to double check. Really, the
major features that made me want to use it before seem to have been slipped
under the carpet.

Even if the program is more powerful than it was before, it definitely does
not give me the notion it is. Feeling secure is just as important as
actually being secure, or else the general public will not think that this
program is doing justice for their machine.

 

[Antoninus Pius]

I am also feeling the same about this product.

I know that in this upgrade they were looking to make the interface
simplified for ease of use, but I think they may have made it a little bit
too simple. When someone uses this product, they do not feel very secure.
There is no system tray icon to assure them that it's running and
protecting.
There's no scans going on in the background to double check. Really, the
major features that made me want to use it before seem to have been
slipped
under the carpet.

Even if the program is more powerful than it was before, it definitely
does
not give me the notion it is. Feeling secure is just as important as
actually being secure, or else the general public will not think that this
program is doing justice for their machine.

Which is why I went back to Beta 1 until WD gets its act together-hasn't
anyone at MS been reading these groups? To not even have an option to
display the icon in the system tray was not too bright of them. No warm
fuzzy seeing that it is working.

 

[Guest]

It's good to know I'm not the only one who feels this way about Defender.
What indications does this application give the user to give you the feeling
of better security than MSAS? So far I cannot even get the scheduled scan to
work, either that or the scan history does not show the correct information.
I hope MS is reading these discussions.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

These discussions are getting read.