Hello,
Re windows Defender, which I guess is pretty good now:
New pc came with McAfee, and others too apparently.
a. Do I have to totally purge all of these (other) Virus and Malware
programs to be able to run Windows Defender ?
b. If they can co-exist, how do I tell the pc to only use Windows Defender, while leaving
the others installed, but not active ?
Thanks,
Bob
It is strongly recommended that you run only one antivirus program at a time. Having more than one antivirus program active in memory uses additional resources and can result in program conflicts and false virus alerts. If you choose to install more than one antivirus program on your computer, then only one of them should be active in memory at a time.
Set the Real-time protection for the antivirus software you want to use and disable the Real-time protection for other antivirus software's you want to manually scan your computer with.
My OEM W10 system came with McAfee also. During commissioning, I declined the option to 'send data to McAfee'. I downloaded the 'McAfee Products Removal Tool' and let it do its thing. But it still left persistent McAfee traces, so I went through 'This PC' and searched for McAfee to scrub out the last traces. So, I use Windows Defender exclusively, coupled with a subscription to MalwareBytes. I had never had good experience with McAfee, Norton, Avast, Kaspersky, etc.(they want to take too much control over my machine).
I have not had a virus, or other malware in some years now.
If you decide to keep McAfee you can still do offline scans using Defender.
I've been fine just using Defender plus offline scans by AdwCleaner & Malwarebytes.
I only use Defender as the main AV. My only complaint, if you can call it that, is that I think they should do something to reduce the memory footprint but other than that can't say there is much to complain about at all especially since I discovered that you can dig deeper and customize many elements using PowerShell.
I have a USB stick with various portable security solutions and from time to time I double-check but so far all good.
Gone are the days when I jumped around from AV to AV or had more than one on-demand solution installed. Defender provides a more than adequate solution for me as an average home user.
I have been using Defender ever since Windows 10 Pro came out. I tried it under Windows 7 Pro when it first came out but Defender was still in its youth and it was not very good, so when I switched from McAfee's bloated AV for AVG I was happy for a while. Then Defender got better and I have now switched and used Defender entirely on my Mom's and my notebooks.
I use two other programs to supplement the security of my notebooks that might help you as well. I use (and purchased a lifetime subscription because of its extensive forums help and its lifetime license pricing) AdGuard, which is not only its namesake, but it also helps protect against malware issues. I also use Auslogics' Anti-Malware program, which is similar to Malwarebytes. However, I do purchase a year's subscription of this program (as well as two other Auslogics' programs; Disk defrag and BoostSpeed) and there are eCoupons if you search for them that can get these programs up to 50% off the retail pricing if you google them.
But to be totally honest I find that I with AdGuard in play as add-ons within all of the browsers that I switch between (Firefox, Chrome, and Edge), I am thinking of giving up on paying for Auslogic's AM program. Since AdGuard is a standalone program that gets loaded before you open your browser, you choose scripts that best suit your needs as far as ads go, but also AG is also an active Malware scanner as well.
BTW, my question to the group: Do I really need to keep paying for Auslogics AM program since I have AdGuard actively scanning my computer while I am on-line with my browser(s)? Basically, I radther pay for security and malware programs instead of using free ones that only do a half-asked job of keeping my computer free from whatever...IYKWIM... :)
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