[Off Topic] Win 10 question, will Anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-anything bad, still be required in Win 10 or would Win Defender suffice

[chrisjordan]

Win 10 question, will Anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-anything bad, still be required in Win 10 or would Win Defender suffice

I am a long time Mac user and have never had to worry too much about typical windows security issues.

So our IT guy gave me a 2011 Dell with Win7Pro which is ready for a Win10 upgrade. I'd like to dual boot Win10 and Ubuntu with this machine.

[ritchie58]

Personally, regardless of what Windows OS I was using at the time, I've never wanted to use Defender because even to this day some free AV products actually have better efficacy against malware.

Microsoft admits that Defender is really only meant for users that don't have or don't want to use a good third-party AV. That way they don't go without any protection at all.

You should upgrade to Win 10 ASAP since Win 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft, this includes security patches & bug fixes.

You can use Immunet as a 'stand-alone AV' if the ClamAV module remains enabled. Immunet alone would provide you better protection than Defender.

However, Immunet has been designed to be a companion AV to most major players AV products. This will add an additional layer of security to your system. It is recommended that if you use Immunet in this manner that you disable ClamAV & updates for it.

What AV you wish to use along side of Immunet I could give you some suggestions on that. Just add an additional thread to this topic & let me know if you're interested in that layered security approach.

Also, keep in mind that if you install another AV product that should automatically disable Defender for newer builds for Win 10. That's normal behavior.

For your firewall, make sure these executables have access to both in-coming & out-going internet traffic for Immunet to function properly. They are iptray.exe, sfc.exe, cscm.exe & freshclam.exe (if using the ClamAV module).

Cheers, Ritchie...

[zombunny2]

I would second Ritchie's recommendation to seek alternatives to Defender, even if the computer isn't really used for anything online.

Windows Defender currently seems to get good reviews and provide good protection, according to some of the test labs, however there are three major problems with it:

1. It's the built-in solution, so most malware will target holes in it, be designed to disable it, or will be specifically designed to evade its detection.
2. Its historical record has been extremely variable and patchy. One month it has been the worst performer and the next, one of the top performers. It's not historically been consistent like the well-known names have.
3. Its ransomware and exploit protection ("controlled folder access") is responsible for much of its apparent effectiveness, but is horrendously simplistic and aggressive. It even blocks built-in Windows features such as the commandline utilities format.com, chkdsk, xcopy and so on... It also blocks non-Microsoft browsers such as Firefox. In whitelisting these features, you essentially open-up each one of them to exploit. In order to have a usable system, I had to exclude Firefox, cmd, PowerShell and others from the "controlled folder access". This essentially opened-up the main vector for malware-delivery (the browser), and also opened-up the main two script interpreters used by ransomware, effectively leaving me with no protection at all. Additionally, I find it breaks most installation programs, because it doesn't allow them to save files or create shortcuts!

If you really want Windows Defender, I'd recommend running it in tandem with MalwareBytes premium (with "integrate with security center" turned off so it doesn't disable defender), and make sure to disable "controlled folder access" within defender, as MalwareBytes would handle that part of the protection. You could also run MalwareBytes in tandem with Immunet, but Immunet will disable Defender (like virtually all other AVs do).

You could also run just MalwareBytes, or just Immunet. Immunet's static file detection rate isn't the best, but it's sometimes better than Defender, and I think Immunet's behavoural blocking is less intrusive than Defender's. It certainly breaks your system less!

Besides MalwareBytes, I've noticed Sophos Home Free works brilliantly alongside Immunet. Kaspersky free also works well, but I had stability issues until I put Kaspersky's folders in Immunet's exclusions, and Immunet's folders in Kaspersky's exclusions. F-Secure Antivirus (I haven't tried Total/Safe etc) works perfectly with Immunet too. Comodo Internet Security also worked well when I tried it a couple of years ago, but its behavioural/HIPS/firewall components are incredibly noisy and aggressive, so you have to use it a long time before it learns what's good or not so good on your system.

If you want a lightweight solution, I'd recommend Immunet alongside either Voodooshield or NoVirusThanks OSArmor. Voodooshield is pretty noisy at first, but is free (gratis); I think OSArmor is far more polished and user-friendly, and worth paying for.

Alternatively, just wipe the hard disk and install Linux Mint, Trisquel, or Debian, and have no worries about all this nonsense.

[ritchie58]

Here's an image of the results of a recent AV Comparatives test done in April provided to me by Panda.

As you can see Microsoft Defender is the last on the list. That is proof of what I wrote in my first thread about how Defender is 'not exactly a great AV' to use.

Panda only missed 3 malware test strings out of 190! With that info, I am glad I use Panda Dome Pro along side of Immunet!

[nhighnote414]

On 8/22/2021 at 12:40 AM, chrisjordan said:

Win 10 question, will Anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-anything bad, still be required in Win 10 or would Win Defender suffice

I am a long time Mac user and have never had to worry too much about typical windows security issues.

So our IT guy gave me a 2011 Dell with Win7Pro which is ready for a Win10 upgrade. I'd like to dual boot Win10 and Ubuntu with this machine.

Panda sent me with a picture showing the results of a recent AV Comparatives test performed in April.

Microsoft Defender is, as you can see, at the bottom of the list. That demonstrates why Defender is "not exactly a fantastic AV" to employ, as I stated in my original discussion.

Out of 190 malware test strings, Panda only missed three! I'm pleased I use Panda Dome Pro now that I know this information.

Thanks For Reposing I will Try it.

Edited November 13, 2021 by nhighnote414