Why I stick to Defender(less of 2 evils)

Oh this'll be fun reading the comments, I placed this here because it's a user policy & privacy discussion, not about the AV itself.

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AVG has openly admitted to sharing their user data with 3rd parties, but I thought a part of the job of an AV is to protect my data from being accessed from others... WTF(and I don't mean Windows Ten Forums).

Example AVG's privacy policy(ok all you Tinfoil Hat's and Devils Advocates let me hear from you:)):

Do you share my data?


Yes, though when and how we share it depends on whether it is personal data or non-personal data. AVG may share non-personal data with third parties and may publicly display aggregate or anonymous information.

We do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties.

We may share certain personal data (as described below) with:

• Any of our affiliated AVG companies;

AVG is a global company, comprising many companies in many offices around the world. In order to do business around the globe, we may share your personal data across our offices and companies which may be in countries with different laws regarding the collection and use of personal data than the country we collected it from.

• Search providers;

Certain of our search providers may require us to share your full IP address with them in order to fulfill your search requests. Please note that the search providers have their own privacy policies that govern the privacy of these requests. We encourage you to read these privacy policies before deciding to use these services.

• Selected AVG resellers, distributors and other partners performing services on our behalf.

We may share some of your personal data, such as your email address, with certain selected resellers, distributors and other partners to enable them to contact you on our behalf about products, services or offers we believe are important to you or your business, to fulfill any terms under your licensing and service relationship with AVG, or to provide you local technical and customer support.

Lastly, we may share your personal data:

• when necessary to deliver the product or service you require such as with a payment card provider who we use to process your credit card transaction;
• when authorized by law or necessary to comply with a valid legal process;
• when required to protect and defend the rights or property of AVG, including the security of our products and services;
• when necessary to protect the personal safety, property or other rights of the public, AVG or its customers or employees; or
• in connection with a sale of all or part of our business.

If we are legally compelled to disclose your personal data to a third party, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify you in advance of a disclosure unless legally prohibited. If we are involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, we will abide by this Privacy Policy, and any affected users will be informed if we transfer any personal data to a third party or if personal data becomes subject to a different privacy policy as a result.

Complete policy here

I think we are snooped upon in so many ways by so many different companies and government agencies. It is just a fact a life. Everything we do can be monitored, where we travel, where and how we use our phones, credit cards etc etc etc. This isn't just about AVG. This is about what we want as citizens who live in democracies (or otherwise). If we live in a democracy, well we voted for it indirectly, by exercising our right to select individuals to represent us in legislatures. Therefore, we willingly chose to have our rights infringed, accepted that it is in our interests to improve the quality of products and to enhance our national security. It is all intertwined. Whatever software you sign up for, your rights to privacy will be impacted.

As for me. Well I'm the village idiot and am therefore totally ignorant of it's importance.

Edit for mods : I know political posts are not allowed. Please delete if this post transgresses forum rules. It is just that the thread subject is connected with politics in my opinion and my response seemed appropriate.

Seems everyone is interested in your data nowadays & it is unavoidable that you leave tracks wherever you go. One thing I can say I am not happy with is the fact that so much data is being stored unsecured & we suffer the consequences when there's a breach. Look at the literally millions of Social Security Numbers out in the wild due to the failed efforts of Blue Cross. This week I read that a branch in New York lost another 10 million to hackers.

Having your medical information & medical card ID out in the wild is bad enough, but now the fact that peoples SS#'s are out there means you'll have to be vigilant for the rest of your life. If they are going to gather data, at least try to make an effort to lock it down.

BTW, the reason the information on BC/BS was so easily obtained is that storing the SS#'s encrypted would have added to the time it took to retrieve them. Hence they kept them unencrypted for easier access. Because of their need to make our information "easily accessible" to them, they also made it easily accessible to anyone that got into their network. Me & my Wife are victims of their stupidity & now must remain on guard for the rest of our lives.

Borg 386 said:

Seems everyone is interested in your data nowadays & it is unavoidable that you leave tracks wherever you go. One thing I can say I am not happy with is the fact that so much data is being stored unsecured & we suffer the consequences when there's a breach. Look at the literally millions of Social Security Numbers out in the wild due to the failed efforts of Blue Cross. This week I read that a branch in New York lost another 10 million to hackers.

Having your medical information & medical card ID out in the wild is bad enough, but now the fact that peoples SS#'s are out there means you'll have to be vigilant for the rest of your life. If they are going to gather data, at least try to make an effort to lock it down.

BTW, the reason the information on BC/BS was so easily obtained is that storing the SS#'s encrypted would have added to the time it took to retrieve them. Hence they kept them unencrypted for easier access. Because of their need to make our information "easily accessible" to them, they also made it easily accessible to anyone that got into their network. Me & my Wife are victims of their stupidity & now must remain on guard for the rest of our lives.

One of the advantages in Germany that I noticed, they also have a type of SSN#, but it's only for taxes and retirement credits, you don't write them on every single piece of paperwork like in the states. But when you move to a new town, you have to sign in and report at the Court House and give them your personal info's.

I like the idea of only using built-in stuff... Defender is a very basic protection and has been proven to not work very well at getting the small stuff. That is where MBAM comes in. Free scan; it cleans what defender misses. More things to try would be EMET (when the newer version comes out in the near future) or Malwarebyte's anti-exploit. The good part about defender is it works best with the Windows environment, less crashing and other errors than some of the other antivirus programs, in my experience.

Obviously people have preferences, and that is fine. In fact, it helps to have diverse antivirus programs. I use ad blockers and don't click on websites I do not recognize or trust, including when I'm looking at social media posts from other people. That perhaps is the best way to avoid the nasties.