Lack of ability to customise windows defender

[Guest]

The issue I have have with defender as opposed to ms antispyware is the lack
of control over which drives can be scanned or omitted from scans.

I have software on a drive in my system used for finding and removing
passwords etc, which is detected as viruses/spyware obviously I don't want
this to be removed.

On the flip side, when I wish to perform a scan on a customers drive, I do
not wish to have to wait through a scan on my drives.

Other than this detraction from usability it seems to be doing it's job....

 

[Bill Sanderson]

You can set excluded items or paths in tools, general settings--scroll down
to advanced options and hit the "add" button.
I've seen the detection you speak of, and can sympthasize.

On the second issue, it doesn't do a full scan--what I'm not completely
clear about is whether it does anything less than a quickscan before hitting
the target of the custom scan. I suspect there's a clear rationale for this
scan, but I haven't really seen it voiced by a Microsoft person, so I
shouldn't guess about it.

 

[Mike Treit [Msft]]

Currently the behavior when performing a custom scan is to first do a quick
scan, followed by scanning all of the files in the custom location
specified.

Thanks

-Mike

 

[Guest]

SO. Along with most other software written by microsoft and then "enhanced",
the control has been removed from the user to make it "easier" for us to use
it.

Well may I be the (first?!?) to say that is not really what we, the users,
want. We want to be able to instruct a piece of software to do something
specific and have it specifically do what we ask of it, nothing more, nothing
less...

I really do not wish a piece of software to be removing programs which are
essential to my work because on a whim it decides to go banzai on a drive I
spefically told it to avoid, or is it that I specifically only tell it to
scan another drive. oh hell I'm gettin all confussed now ?!?

Hey, here's an idea... how about a list of simple check boxes with the scan
targets listed so the program scans what we check, doesn't scan what we don't
check and remembers what it did last time so it can do the same again this
time? I think...

Also a nice little icon down by the clock so that we know it's running and
not worry that we might not be protected.

 

[Mike Chan [MSFT]]

We are looking to address the system tray icon issue.

I'll add a little to the response about doing a quick scan before doing a
custom scan. We do this to ensure that the custom scan does not simply catch
parts of spyware. The reason this is important is that spyware like viruses
can move around and while you're trying to clean/delete one part, it will
(due to a "reinfector") make copies to somewhere else. Therefore, in order
to be more thorough, a custom scan is always accompanied by a quickscan to
give you a more complete spyware removal scan.

Mike

SO. Along with most other software written by microsoft and then
"enhanced",
the control has been removed from the user to make it "easier" for us to
use
it.

Well may I be the (first?!?) to say that is not really what we, the users,
want. We want to be able to instruct a piece of software to do something
specific and have it specifically do what we ask of it, nothing more,
nothing
less...

I really do not wish a piece of software to be removing programs which are
essential to my work because on a whim it decides to go banzai on a drive
I
spefically told it to avoid, or is it that I specifically only tell it to
scan another drive. oh hell I'm gettin all confussed now ?!?

Hey, here's an idea... how about a list of simple check boxes with the
scan
targets listed so the program scans what we check, doesn't scan what we
don't
check and remembers what it did last time so it can do the same again this
time? I think...

Also a nice little icon down by the clock so that we know it's running and
not worry that we might not be protected.

--
Mike Chan [MSFT]
Technical Product Manager
Windows Defender

This posting provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
--

 

[Pat Willener]

I do hope that the systray icon will be optional. I really have enough
stuff in there that I can only remove by exit-ing the application.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Every statement I've seen on this says the current behavior will be the
default.
--

 

[Guest]

I don't buy the quick scan before custom scan scenario. My worst case time
for a quick scan was 2:30 and I did a custom scan on a folder that had
nothing in it. It took almost 12 minutes to do a custom scan. Something
else was going on for an additional 8 and 9 minutes. It may be doing a quick
scan, but it's also doing something else. Custom scan times are terribly
high and I've heard no good explanation why.

We are looking to address the system tray icon issue.

I'll add a little to the response about doing a quick scan before doing a
custom scan. We do this to ensure that the custom scan does not simply catch
parts of spyware. The reason this is important is that spyware like viruses
can move around and while you're trying to clean/delete one part, it will
(due to a "reinfector") make copies to somewhere else. Therefore, in order
to be more thorough, a custom scan is always accompanied by a quickscan to
give you a more complete spyware removal scan.

Mike

SO. Along with most other software written by microsoft and then
"enhanced",
the control has been removed from the user to make it "easier" for us to
use
it.

Well may I be the (first?!?) to say that is not really what we, the users,
want. We want to be able to instruct a piece of software to do something
specific and have it specifically do what we ask of it, nothing more,
nothing
less...

I really do not wish a piece of software to be removing programs which are
essential to my work because on a whim it decides to go banzai on a drive
I
spefically told it to avoid, or is it that I specifically only tell it to
scan another drive. oh hell I'm gettin all confussed now ?!?

Hey, here's an idea... how about a list of simple check boxes with the
scan
targets listed so the program scans what we check, doesn't scan what we
don't
check and remembers what it did last time so it can do the same again this
time? I think...

Also a nice little icon down by the clock so that we know it's running and
not worry that we might not be protected.

--
Mike Chan [MSFT]
Technical Product Manager
Windows Defender

This posting provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I've the impression--and it is just that--not based on hard facts--that a
quickscan will vary in length depending on what is in ram and memory cache
at its start.

I really haven't observed this firsthand, but it would seem to fit some
descriptions of repeated runs and timings that have been posted here.

--

I don't buy the quick scan before custom scan scenario. My worst case time
for a quick scan was 2:30 and I did a custom scan on a folder that had
nothing in it. It took almost 12 minutes to do a custom scan. Something
else was going on for an additional 8 and 9 minutes. It may be doing a
quick
scan, but it's also doing something else. Custom scan times are terribly
high and I've heard no good explanation why.

We are looking to address the system tray icon issue.

I'll add a little to the response about doing a quick scan before doing a
custom scan. We do this to ensure that the custom scan does not simply
catch
parts of spyware. The reason this is important is that spyware like
viruses
can move around and while you're trying to clean/delete one part, it will
(due to a "reinfector") make copies to somewhere else. Therefore, in
order
to be more thorough, a custom scan is always accompanied by a quickscan
to
give you a more complete spyware removal scan.

Mike

SO. Along with most other software written by microsoft and then
"enhanced",
the control has been removed from the user to make it "easier" for us
to
use
it.

Well may I be the (first?!?) to say that is not really what we, the
users,
want. We want to be able to instruct a piece of software to do
something
specific and have it specifically do what we ask of it, nothing more,
nothing
less...

I really do not wish a piece of software to be removing programs which
are
essential to my work because on a whim it decides to go banzai on a
drive
I
spefically told it to avoid, or is it that I specifically only tell it
to
scan another drive. oh hell I'm gettin all confussed now ?!?

Hey, here's an idea... how about a list of simple check boxes with the
scan
targets listed so the program scans what we check, doesn't scan what we
don't
check and remembers what it did last time so it can do the same again
this
time? I think...

Also a nice little icon down by the clock so that we know it's running
and
not worry that we might not be protected.

:

Currently the behavior when performing a custom scan is to first do a
quick
scan, followed by scanning all of the files in the custom location
specified.

Thanks

-Mike

You can set excluded items or paths in tools, general
settings--scroll
down to advanced options and hit the "add" button.
I've seen the detection you speak of, and can sympthasize.

On the second issue, it doesn't do a full scan--what I'm not
completely
clear about is whether it does anything less than a quickscan before
hitting the target of the custom scan. I suspect there's a clear
rationale for this scan, but I haven't really seen it voiced by a
Microsoft person, so I shouldn't guess about it.
--

The issue I have have with defender as opposed to ms antispyware is
the
lack
of control over which drives can be scanned or omitted from scans.

I have software on a drive in my system used for finding and
removing
passwords etc, which is detected as viruses/spyware obviously I
don't
want
this to be removed.

On the flip side, when I wish to perform a scan on a customers
drive,
I
do
not wish to have to wait through a scan on my drives.

Other than this detraction from usability it seems to be doing it's
job....

--
Mike Chan [MSFT]
Technical Product Manager
Windows Defender

This posting provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.