Is WINDOWS 10 Built in Security Sufficient?

ROADSTER said:

Hello All,

I am preparing to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 on my Dell Inspiron 560S (64 bit) and have a question about security. I know someone who has a degree in Network Administration (although he doesn't work in that field) who says that the built in firewall and Windows Defender are all you need. Do you agree?

I tried searching the forum to see if this question has been asked and found nothing.

What's the consensus of the group?

Thanks

Hi Roadster and welcome to Tenforums.

I'll respectfully disagree with your friend, and suggest that you add some "layers" of protection:

Malwarebytes Antimalware (free version has to be updated and run manually, Pro/paid version works nicely with Defender)
Malwarebytes AntiExploit free
SuperAntiSpyware free (updates and scans are manual)
CryptoPrevent (again, updates are manual in the free version)

Each of these programs has their own specialty, and compliment the basic Defender-Windows Firewall protection. Working together, you should be pretty well protected. Another thing I would recommend is using Firefox with Java & Flash set to "Ask to activate", and the LastPass add-on. As Edge doesn't support extensions yet, I would limit using it for now.

Good luck!

There are people that use only the basic built in security. Some are happy with it. A lot depends on your surfing habits. If you are cautious you may avoid getting anything nasty. But the odds are against you, even with a layered approach due to the high number of viruses/malware being released every day/hour.

Nothing gets everything 100% of the time. Hence the layered approach is the best.

Personally I only use WD plus a free version of Malwarebytes. IMHO, all anti virus softwares are just junks. Never use them, never will.
My only protection is to make at least 2 backup images of Windows using: Macrium Reflect Free in case I got any virus or my PC behaves strangely then it only takes at most 3~5 minutes to get back online since I use SSD's for my Windows and backup drives. Most people might not agree with me and that's fine.

Here's my reasons for not using them:

1. I always watch where I surf. If I got a popup that seems suspicious. Open the task manager and kill the browser, don't even answer Yes or No to the question. These answers are sometimes deceiving, Answer Yes is Yes, answer No is still Yes.
2. Never open any strange emails. Just delete them.
3. Viruses are being created everyday, hour, minute, second... so the Anti Virus software is only good if they have it in their definition database which requires constant updates from you. So where do these companies get the definition from ? The answer is the first person who got it then reported it. If you did not get the update in time, your system is still vulnerable for virus attack. That's why there's different opinions on different Anti Virus softwares.
4. Anti Virus software would sometimes slow your PC down to its knee.
5. Often causes BSOD.
6. If one of the system files got infected by virus and the software will clean it causing missing system file in Windows, in turn causing it to be broken.
7. Never install freeware without reading every single screen for other offers.
8. Turn off Autorun. Even though it's convenient to have this option, However, Hackers use this as a way to sneak into your PC.

Just FYI: Malwarebytes AntiExploit free, SuperAntiSpyware free, and CryptoPrevent are not AVs - they are browser/system protection against unknown attacks that have not been identified yet by the AVs.