Come on, Microsoft. I looked the other way when I had to buy a new harddrive and OS for my old computer because of viruses. That thing was really, really old (in computer years) and had done its duty. Old things get sick, that is just the way it is.
But this new machine, yowza! I intentionally got more machine than I really need so that I don’t have to get rid of the thing in 2 years. It cost a lot of money, it has all the most advanced chips (for a laptop anyway), and it runs the very latest OS, Windows 7 (or is Vista the latest? Who cares, Win7 is still new).
Considering my considerable investment and the high quality of my equipment, I really expected to be free of catastrophic virus problems. But no, it has been only a couple of months and already I have had to completely re-boot the entire thing. And then a second time, I think the damn flash drive where I tried to salvage some documents was infected and re-introduced the virus.
Not only is this incredibly annoying and a big waste of my very limited time, but I cannot retrieve my documents and have to say goodbye to all my internet links, after having to say goodbye to my last set of links after upgrading computers (unless someone can tell me how to extract bookmarks from my old computer with no connectivity).
WTF guys? Your company is worth billions of dollars. You invented this shit and squished the competition. Why is this most-advanced home system susceptible at all to having its registry keys changed by malicious morons such that the entire thing becomes utterly un-usable? What is wrong with you nerds? Windows Defender is a complete piece of shit!!!
But seriously, nothing unusual. I’ve had 2 nasty viruses on 2 machines in about 18 months, otherwise I have the same record as you. I wonder if I got the virus through Steam…
Part of the problem might be that Microsoft Defender is not an antivirus. It’s only designed for spyware. Microsoft Security Essentials is their antivirus product.
Also note that MSE is not that good at virus detection. It constantly tests well below other free antiviruses on that feature. (I’m honestly not sure why it passes.)
BTW, the best on that chart is AVG. Avast looks better, but it has a really low repair rate. And Avira, while worse, you can get the premium version for five dollars if you use one of their special deals. And they have a new version out since that testing. And they were the best for two years running before this.
There is a free version of Avast!. You’ll have to dig for it, I understand it’s well hidden on the site.
Antivirus programs will interfere with each other. There can be only one!
Check that your firewall wasn’t disabled. Some viruses will do that.
Get Microsoft Security Essentials. it’s top rated. (MSE will turn off Defender)
ETA: After seeing BigT’s post-I have had very few virus detections but I also have only had scans turn up two viruses in the past year and a half and no damage was done.
Virus and trojan software has gotten more sophisticated. It’s no longer some ankle bitter types who just want to trash your system. The goal now is to penetrate your system without you ever knowing they were there. Makes it easier for them to either hijack your system when you aren’t around or peek in on what you are doing and perhaps get your passwords or other information that can be used in the future to steal from you. Not to say that Avast is or isn’t good, but odds are that if you go out on the internet and all you have protecting you is Avast that you are either lucky or you just don’t know that they have already been in your system…especially if you are talking years. Most likely you’ve just been lucky, and perhaps you have made wise choices in where you surf. Those damn red headed, left handed, Anabaptist dwarf porn sites get me every time! :smack:
As to the OP…why does Windows Defender suck? Well, because it’s free, silly…and also because it was never meant to be your only or even primary anti-virus/anti-malware defense. It’s simply meant to augment your real defenses…and even then it’s pretty poor at doing that more modest job. I generally turn it off, personally, and rely on other defenses. And I still manage to get a virus from time to time, despite having multiple layers of defense. C’est la vie. If you haven’t been infected or owned it’s mainly luck, as hackers and virus/malware can penetrate any defense that isn’t completely isolated from the internet. Even large government facilities and corporations get penetrated, despite spending literally billions on defenses.
Yah well I got Avast and I’m sticking with it until I crash. ISTM that the free version is only good for a limited amount of time, plus the premium version comes with additional features, plus plus the expert computer scientist recommended it so I used his brain instead of mine. That’s how this works.
Free? Who you calling silly? This computer cost me a few weeks’ pay, and the OS by itelf is not exactly cheap. Would you accept a car that didn’t accelerate past 50mph? A toaster that didn’t toast? A mousetrap that didn’t catch mice? I paid my money and the thing should work :mad:
The free version of Avast is good for 1 year I believe, you just have to re-register after the year is up for another year.
Defender gets shut off on all my systems because it pops the hell up every time I want to do something (yes, I really DO need to install this software I spent $3000 on!) and I don’t care to figure out how to shut off just that particular pesky thing. So, the whole things goes off.
I think the avoidance of dwarf porn is probably what saves me!
Well, you paid for the operating system (which it’s debatable whether THAT even works all that great :p). And you got a crap load of other junk in the bargain…including a browser you might or might not use and Windows Defender, which isn’t anti-virus or anti-malware software at all. You are right…it wasn’t ‘free’, since it was all bundled together. However, if your expectation was that your OS was a one stop shop and would do everything you need and/or want, well, I’m going to stick with the ‘silly’ part.
After reading the follow-up posts, I just have to say…QFT.
I changed from AVG (supported by Windows Defender and Spybot) to MSE shortly after I upgraded to Windows 7 (fairly early after release) and I’ve not had any infections in ages. I think my last infection was back when I was using Windows 98.
No wonder it sucks at virus protection, it was originally designed for a planet where one must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting people from alien abductions!
You gotta be kidding. Windows 7 for a 64 bit machine costs $99.99. How many millions of those do they sell? Are you saying I’m silly for expecting a quality product??? I think you are the silly one, silly pants.
