Windows Defender and Microsoft Anti-Spyware

[Guest]

The former being the successor of the latter, one would think Windows
Defender would uninstall Microsoft Anti-Spyware before installing itself.
This seems not to be the case. Before I knew they were the same product--I
assumed that IF it were, surely W.D. and/or anti-Sspyware would not let me
install both--the two products seemed to run happily together.

I'm not sure my computer system was altogether happy. Some programs didn't
work right, so I uninstalled W.D. Is Microsoft recommending that I uninstall
the anti-spyware product before installing? If so, why hasn't MS told me
this, in one way or another? And why the 15-year retrogression in installer
technology?

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

Windows Defender SHOULD uninstall Microsoft Antispyware as a part of the
installation process. In my experience (which is largely through these
groups--I haven't seen this in person) this kind of failure may relate to
some other anti-spyware or "protective" software which prevents the
uninstall. I would recommend using MSCONFIG to remove as many third-party
services and startup items as possible, and then uninstalling both Microsoft
Antispyware and Windows Defender, and reinstalling Windows Defender.

 

[Guest]

Here's a free program that stops unnecessary programs and services
temporarily without needing to restart: Smart Close--http://bm-productions.tk/

But before I replace Microsoft Anti-Spyware with Windows Defender, let me
ask you--is there any good reason to do so? Anti-Spyware has about 100 days
left on its trial and has been running without problem and catching any
spyware that arrives. Why not leave well enough alone?

What's better about Windows Defender, for a user who hasn't had problems
with Microsoft Anti-Spyware. Convincing reasons to take the small risk
involved in installing a new product would be such things as more efficient
use of computer time and noticeably faster scans.

 

[Steve Dodson [MSFT]]

Defender has many benefits which Windows Anti-Spyware does not have. A few
advantages of Defender over Anti-Spyware:
1) Runs as a service so non-administrators can scan and remove spyware
2) Scans unicode named files
3) Scans compressed files
4) Localized for other countries

If you run into any issues with Anti-Spyware, you will need to upgrade to
Defender since we are not filing any bugs against Anti-Spyware. I know I
missed a lot of items on what is improved in Defender. If you have feedback
on items which can be improved, please let me know by posting in a new
thread in the newsgroups.

--
-steve

Steve Dodson [MSFT]
Windows Defender Beta Lead
MCSE, CISSP
http://blogs.technet.com/stevedod
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[Guest]

Seriously...there are tons of software out there which never have any trouble
uninstalling older versions. WD never manages to uninstall MA on any computer
I've tested. Another thing: WD don't seem to have the Realtime-scanners
active on 80% of the computers I've installed on. This software is rather
useless in it's current state. There's far too little information of what
it's doing and of what's going on.

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

WD has uninstalled Microsoft Antispyware on ever one of at least 4 dozen
machine's I've done the upgrade on. In general, that's been older
code--1051, rather than 1347, though--so I should probably do some new
testing. I'd sure be interested to know what is different about the
machines you are seeing this on.

How do you know that real-time protection is not active? Remember that in
Windows Defender, RTP is provided by a system service, started at boot,
which has no icon by default. There is an option setting to display the
icon, if that would make you feel more comfortable.

--

 

[Guest]

I would like to know how to configure the icon to display by default.

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

First, check in Help, about--and see if the Windows Defender version number
is 1.1.1347.0 or higher.

If it is not, go back to www.microsoft.com and do a new download of Windows
Defender--just reinstall right over your current version.

Once you are on 1347, go to Tools, Options, and scroll down to real-time
protection options. At the very end of this section are a pair of
checkboxes to control icon-display.

Remember to save your changes, via the button at the bottom of the page.

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