Windows Defender vs Live One Care

[Licmy]

Do I really need a secoundary security system? I already have Windows Defender.

 

[T&V Seitz]

I have been running ONLY Defender, Avast Antivirus (free home version) , and
the Windows firewall for approximately 3 years. We spend hours a day on the
internet and have an internally protected wireless network set up.

To date we have had no virus or other intrusions that the above
configuration has not caught!

 

[Cal Bear '66]

Windows Defender is NOT an anti-virus program (it is an anti-spyware program).
You also have Windows Firewall, but you DO need an anti-virus program (Avast and
AVG are free anti-virus programs).


I Bleed Blue and Gold
GO BEARS!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Do I really need a secoundary security system? I already have Windows Defender.

Is that all you have?

You need three kinds of software for protection:

1. An anti-virus program

2. Two or more anti-spyware programs

3. A firewall program.

Windows Defender is an anti-spyware program. You still need software
of the other two types, and you should also run at least one other
anti-spyware program. A single one is not good enough.

 

[Tooloose LaBlech]

As others have said, you need more. Let me chime in with my recent
experience in this area.

I purchased a Toshiba laptop with McAfee Internet Security Suite pre-loaded.
It appeared to operate well,
so I upgraded to a 1-year license. Big mistake. Shortly after I upgraded
(doncha know), Vista HP started
blue-screening at startup. Recently, Vista's post-debacle self-appraisal
identified McAfee's realtime Virus
Scanner as the culprit. There is no known fix for this from McAfee. When I
went to McAfee's site to obtain
support, the site attempted to install some 3rd-party chat client which made
a lot of noise and did NOTHING.
No client, no changes, no nothing. I know what to expect; I have used
Symantec's chat client repeatedly to good
effect (although I wouldn't recommend Ghost 12.0 to my worst enemy).

Today, I yanked McAfee. I am currently appraising the Bitdefender 2008
Internet Security Suite 30-day free trial. So far I've noticed this: Vista
boots A LOT FASTER with BitDefender than with McAfee and BitDefender's
post-virus-scan log is a lot more detailed.

Black humor sidebar: I can just imagine McAfee tripping Vista into a blue
screen as it stands in the way trying to scan various Vista modules as
they're being loaded.

What a joke. Do the research. McAfee's FORMER clients are about two bits
short of a class-action lawsuit.

 

[Sparks]

I've used McAfee with Vista from day one. I have never had any problem what
so ever, I think you are experiencing a hardware configuration issue. After
all, any giving software program can't be expected to work 100% with all the
possible computer configurations that are out there in the world, you know
what I mean.


=======================

 

[Dave Harris]

What other spyware program do you recommend?

Is that all you have?

You need three kinds of software for protection:

1. An anti-virus program

2. Two or more anti-spyware programs

3. A firewall program.

Windows Defender is an anti-spyware program. You still need software
of the other two types, and you should also run at least one other
anti-spyware program. A single one is not good enough.

 

[Straight Talk]

Do I really need a secoundary security system? I already have Windows Defender.

You don't need any security *system*. What you need is a security
*concept*.

 

[Straight Talk]

Is that all you have?

You need three kinds of software for protection:

1. An anti-virus program

2. Two or more anti-spyware programs

3. A firewall program.

Windows Defender is an anti-spyware program. You still need software
of the other two types, and you should also run at least one other
anti-spyware program. A single one is not good enough.

What utter nonsense.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

What other spyware program do you recommend?

I use

Spybot Search and Destroy
Adaware
Spyware Blaster
Windows Defender
Super Antispyware

 

[Dave Harris]

Straight Talk: Can you explain or provide us with a "security concept to
use within the Vista OS?"

 

[Straight Talk]

Straight Talk: Can you explain or provide us with a "security concept to
use within the Vista OS?"

Well, first of all, since later versions of Windows (since XP SP2) are
secure out-of-the-box with respect to vulnerabilities that are
exploitable from the outside, problems to a very high degree depend on
yourself and what you do.

Security is not a product you install. It's a constant process of
understanding, assessing and mitigating risk.

By having a modern PC you have suddenly become the administrator of a
machine power and system functionality that for just 2 decades ago
would serve entire companies - and there were experts there taking
care of configuration, security and operations - controlled by well
thought out procedures. For example, no software would be allowed to
be installed without thorough investigations and assessment.

Now, it has become the assumption that such computer power is more is
or less plug-and-play and can be safely left to even small kids.
That's a bit amusing - but also a very serious challenge.

You need to stop relying on so called "security software" to keep you
safe and instead realize that you have to educate yourself about what
consequences your acts might have in terms of security.

You need to adjust your mind set - not so much your system. Modern
malware is extremely effective and dangerous - and security software
providers have to constantly struggle hard just to keep up - and still
they are highly ineffective.

The best thing you can do technically is to use software that is not
inherently broken - and make sure to keep this software patched - as
well as you keep your windows OS patched.

For more inspiration on developing your own security concept, feel
free to visit my web site:
http://home20.inet.tele.dk/b_nice/

 

[Straight Talk]

To date we have had no virus or other intrusions that the above
configuration has not caught!

And you verified that exactly how?