Does Win 10 need an antivirus

swarfega said:

You dont need MBM and Nod32.

@swarfega
Hi there

agree 100%
WD is fine

I'm amazed how people still say they installed some A/V program a few years ago -- the whole "eco-system" has changed -- those old A/V programs were 100% necessary in the days of the old W7 and early W10 systems -- WD today is a totally different animal built right into the heart of the OS and updated almost daily.

I suppose it's a bit like even today people worrying about wear on SSD's -- even though newer models for a few years now are far more robust and likely to outlast any "classical spinner".

The mistake IMO that Ms made was in calling it WD as the old WD (W7 etc) was really quite useless and wasn't fit for purpose anyway.

I still also say that the name of the game these days is for people to attempt to scam rather than just malevonently hack computers -- and unfortunately judging by the typical gullability of a lot of people the scammers will win - and no Anti Virus system will protect you aginst those.

I heard someone in London's Kings Cross main line railway station recently on my last trip to the UK screaming with a voice that an old Drill sargeant in the Army would have been proud of giving his credit card number out on a phone for all and sundry to hear it !!! (obviously one of the latest horrors now in these call centres where you have to speak your problem rather than key in security stuff) . I hope he got home with money still left in his bank account.

Cheers
jimbo

In my book it’s all about intrusivity. How much is it in your face? How much performance loss does it incur? How many false positives? The cost is the least important part.

Windows Defender is the least intrusive, least in your face antivirus I know. And it’s well rated, no not perfect. But, in conjunction with off-site backup it’s the best solution for me.

The only real concern for me is ransomware, and there may be a better product against that, but i’m not that worried

For a consumer user, you don't need an AV program. It causes more issues than good and even they have security vulnerabilities that may not get patched in a timely manner by the AV vendors.

If your hardware supports it, there are many extra layers of security built-in to Windows 10 along side with Windows Defender like Virtualization Based Security. That is the future of computer security. But you need the right hardware though. Also, you have Exploit Guard, which is like EMET. So you have everything for a home user to keep you safe without extra software needed.

The main rule of thumb, is to use common sense, don't install anything that you don't need, use less Add-Ons in your browsers, keep your OS up to date, and DONT RUN AS AN ADMIN ACCOUNT for your daily regular tasks.

Also, use full drive encryption if needed.

jimbo45 said:

Hi there.

WD is 100% OK for home users especially on latest releases of windows builds (1803 and 1809) -- nothing else adds anything extra -- they are IMO just snake oil. Those programs were written for C20 (last century's) problems and also before windows had any sort of sensible mechanism built into it.

100% agree. 10 computers on my home network have run nothing but Windows Defender ever since the first day Windows 10 was released. I have had 0 problems.

and with @win10freak as well!

NavyLCDR said:

100% agree. 10 computers on my home network have run nothing but Windows Defender ever since the first day Windows 10 was released. I have had 0 problems.

for just Windows Defender and zero problems.

(10? make my collection of five seem quite modest )

WD can be even more improved using Group Policy. But for consumers, the default settings are fine.

Been using Avast Free for last 10 years, but after reading this topic think convinced to give Defender a real shot either when i do next clean install closer to 19H1 Release, or right when it releases, or if i decide to upgrade storage drive at birthday then might do it then will see