# Why does Windows Defender have to suck so bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 28, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595 "2011-12-28T03:28:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/21 "2011-12-28T05:05:19Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > After reading the follow-up posts, I just have to say…QFT. Is this not 2011? We live in a world of varied experts. Could you remove my appendix? Make these banana seeds immune to Roundup? Replace my fuel pump? Turn these trees into shelter? Smelt ore? Prepare foie gras? Compose the theme for the movie version of this thread? Just how polymathic an expert are you anyway? We have to accept the presence of people who do not share our expertise yet nevertheless are not idiots. To act otherwise would just be silly. I pay yoga instructors to guide me to fitness because they are experts. I pay podiatrists to resolve my podiatric issues for the same reason. I pay software companies for software that works. I paid good money for these products, and it turns out the software is sup-par. And that’s bullshit, pal. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/22 "2011-12-28T05:59:30Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Is this not 2011? We live in a world of varied experts. Could you remove my appendix? Make these banana seeds immune to Roundup? Replace my fuel pump? Turn these trees into shelter? Smelt ore? Prepare foie gras? Compose the theme for the movie version of this thread? Just how polymathic an expert are you anyway? > > We have to accept the presence of people who do not share our expertise yet nevertheless are not idiots. To act otherwise would just be silly. I pay yoga instructors to guide me to fitness because they are experts. I pay podiatrists to resolve my podiatric issues for the same reason. I pay software companies for software that works. I paid good money for these products, and it turns out the software is sup-par. And that’s bullshit, pal. Nah, actually he’s pretty spot-on. The problem with your example is that very few people preform appendectomies, genetically engineer fruit seeds, mechanically engineer, log, smelt, force-feed geese, or compose every day. Lots and lots of people use computers every day. In fact, most people use several of them several times a day. Most of the best practices for avoiding malware/virus infection have remained the same for years, and should be common sense to even halfway competent computer users. If you’re getting infected with serious viruses (in particular, if you are getting infected repeatedly) then the problem is probably you being a dumbass. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/23 "2011-12-28T06:14:34Z")
I run MSE and AVG Free. Contrary to a couple of the comments above, they work fine together and do not hinder one another at all. I was actually quite surprised that we had managed to get through 20+ posts without some lobotomized Apple douchebag saying “Get a Mac,” but then i had to go and click on the Spoiler button a few posts up. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/24 "2011-12-28T06:15:55Z")
Macs get less viruses for the same reason that ugly guys get fewer STDs. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/25 "2011-12-28T06:23:11Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > Nah, actually he’s pretty spot-on. The problem with your example is that very few people preform appendectomies, genetically engineer fruit seeds, mechanically engineer, log, smelt, force-feed geese, or compose every day. > > Lots and lots of people use computers every day. In fact, most people use several of them several times a day. Most of the best practices for avoiding malware/virus infection have remained the same for years, and should be common sense to even halfway competent computer users. > > If you’re getting infected with serious viruses (in particular, if you are getting infected repeatedly) then the problem is probably you being a dumbass. If it is so common sense, how come my million dollar software has not heard of it? It was a new machine, so I hadn’t learned. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/26 "2011-12-28T06:24:38Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I was actually quite surprised that we had managed to get through 20+ posts without some lobotomized Apple douchebag saying “Get a Mac,” but then i had to go and click on the Spoiler button a few posts up. umadbro? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/27 "2011-12-28T06:29:02Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > umadbro? No, just resigned to the inevitability of Macsturbators in computer threads. The fact that you use a “word” like umadbro just serves to further clarify your level of maturity and intellect. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/28 "2011-12-28T07:00:25Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > No, just resigned to the inevitability of Macsturbators in computer threads. > > The fact that you use a “word” like umadbro just serves to further clarify your level of maturity and intellect. Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! U mad alright fer sure ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/29 "2011-12-28T07:08:09Z")
You think you’re being all, like, hip and ironic, right? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/30 "2011-12-28T07:35:13Z")
[yo, guess which one of these two people you most resemble, bro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1EFyyoxa4k) ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/31 "2011-12-28T07:45:30Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > 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. Yes but the purpose of Windows 7 is not to protect you from malware/viruses/etc. The purpose of the OS is to run code. Viruses are code. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/32 "2011-12-28T07:50:19Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Yes but the purpose of Windows 7 is not to protect you from malware/viruses/etc. The purpose of the OS is to run code. Viruses are code. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. Yeah, and war is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Got it. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/33 "2011-12-28T07:52:00Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [yo, guess which one of these two people you most resemble, bro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1EFyyoxa4k) Yeah, i’m really going to click on a link provided by someone who uses “bro” as a form of address. Whatever it is you’re masturbating over, i’ll leave you to it. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/34 "2011-12-28T08:36:35Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Yeah, and war is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Got it. It’s not a Zen paradox, it’s a simple fact. Your computer doesn’t care. For some reason you expect it to. But it can’t and it won’t, notwithstanding Skynet of course (which would solve your problems in an entirely different manner). But your machine and your software can only do as it is told (by code, not by you) and can only react to things that have already happened. Microsoft tried building anticipation of malware into Vista. Every time your computer tried to do anything a prompt came up say “Are you sure? Are you REALLY SURE?!?! Could be a virus!!!” and after users saw a couple thousand of these a day they quickly figured out how to shut this feature off. The only way to truly secure a machine is to prevent any user interaction with it, from inside or out. But since that makes your computer about as useful as a rock, MS decided to err on the side of usability which has the side effect of letting bad code in. But trust me, it’s a thousand times better now than it was in the days of Pre-SP2 Windows XP and “Violet gives willingly” IE6. Besides, you might be disappointed in your anti-virus but just imagine how all those scientists in Iran feel! Now there is a closed system surrounded by fanatics with guns and missiles and shit and they still get a virus that ruins all their work, wrecks their actual hardware (by causing centrifuges to spin too fast and/or too slowly) and adapts to their attempts to remove it. And you’re upset about losing your bookmarks?!?! (PS, assuming you can get your system going again, you can export your bookmarks from IE by using File/Import and Export and it will spit out a small .html file that can be easily backed up online.) On preview: SB’s link is a Youtube video of Ali G getting a grammar lesson from Andy Rooney. Just for those who also don’t wish to click. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/35 "2011-12-28T13:35:54Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Make these banana seeds immune to Roundup? Bananas don’t have seeds. All edible varieties are grown from tissue culture. Just sayin’; no one can know everything, after all. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/36 "2011-12-28T14:15:38Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > We have to accept the presence of people who do not share our expertise yet nevertheless are not idiots. We also have to accept the presence of idiots. You are doing a fine job of categorizing yourself as one. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/37 "2011-12-28T15:08:44Z")
it’s been mentioned, but I think it got lost once the Apple Advocacy Force showed up. Windows Defender sucks as an anti-virus because _it’s not an anti-virus program._ it’s there to try to block/remove low-level stuff like rootkits which most if not all anti-virus programs can’t do anything about. I’m sure your next question is why Microsoft doesn’t include an anti-virus program with Windows. and I think the answer to that is they don’t want to spend a bunch of money fighting off lawsuits from McAfee, Symantec, and the rest of the bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/38 "2011-12-28T15:14:45Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > We also have to accept the presence of idiots. You are doing a fine job of categorizing yourself as one. Fine. I’ll be first in line pointing and laughing at your appendix care skills when it swells up and is ready to pop. I suppose Gabby Giffords is an idiot too for getting shot? Sheesh, is it so wrong to be irked off when things go wrong and waste a bunch of my time 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/39 "2011-12-28T15:17:31Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > it’s been mentioned, but I think it got lost once the Apple Advocacy Force showed up. > > Windows Defender sucks as an anti-virus because _it’s not an anti-virus program._ it’s there to try to block/remove low-level stuff like rootkits which most if not all anti-virus programs can’t do anything about. Right right, lesson learned. I targeted Defender during my second re-install when the OS asked if I wanted Defender enabled, ‘which protects your computer from malware’ or some such. MSE, got it. But… I’ve still got Avast on here, so will Those two interfere with each other? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595/40 "2011-12-28T15:28:48Z")
Am I the only one who knew the OP was going to be pretty dumb when it turned out he didn’t know if Windows 7 came before or after Vista? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-windows-defender-have-to-suck-so-bad/607595.md?page=3)