Windows 10: Is Windows Defender reliable?

Hello friends!I am performing tests to repair a bug with my laptop and I had to uninstall the Avira antivirus, which I have used for many years.What do you think about Windows Defender?, Would you put your trust in that Windows function instead of the traditional antivirus?.

Thank you for your answers!

:)

 

N8-00 and Belle Refresh

Hello ty for replying, that's the "Country Variant Italy IT Dark Grey V1 (059D607)"

 

N8-00 and Belle Refresh

Hello, i was wondering when the "Belle Refresh" update will be available for N8-00 059D607 devices.

 

It's been working fine on 3 of my computers.

 

What I put my trust in most is common sense. Don't click on anything that looks suspicious. Don't open email attachments from people/businesses you don't know. If you get a pop-up asking to fix/scan/optimize your PC, do a CTRL-ALT-DELETE and kill the browser in task manager.

I've got a dozen computers on my home network and none of them run anything but Windows Defender. I get about 1 minor malware infection on one computer maybe once a year - although it's been longer than a year now that I have taught my family to at least come and get me if they see anything they have a question about. And those malware infections are very easily eradicated by a simple but thorough normal disk cleanup of the HDD/SSD and removal of temp internet files.

On the other hand, I've reloaded windows for 5 or 6 friends over the years due to severe virus infections. Every single one of those computes was running multiple anti-everything programs. Norton, McAfee, MalwareBytes, etc. So, my experience since being online since about 1990 with a 9.6 kbts modem has been that common sense beats relying upon anti-virus programs hands down.

 

Windows Defender has never scored weill on various organization's antivirus tests. You're better off using another companies antivirus and common sense, especially with the newer threats out their in the last year or two.
Do yourself a favor and visit websites that test & rank antivirus software like http://www.avcomparatives.org.
If you download any files run them through www.virustotal.com to see if they're clean before opening them or running them.
Virus Total scans them with 50+ different antivirus programs, so you know if they're safe or not.

 

I gave up AVG after eight (8) years. Decided to save money so I switched to Windows Defender. So far I am pleased with it.

 

They all have different defintions in their databases. I used to use two malware detectors, one automatic, and one manual. Spybot used to find adware that security essentials missed. Now with windows defender and malwarebytes I've found both windows defender false positives and false negatives. It took a little over 10 months for a windows defender false positive to be removed from their database. I'll be submitting what appears to be a windows defender false negative soon. Microsoft has a web link for submitting up to a 10MB file for evaluation: Submit a sample - Microsoft Malware Protection Center

 

Windows Defender has been protecting my Windows 10 since the upgrading in 2015.

 

Me too - and since the Anniversary Update it includes 'Block at First Sight' which can protect against new threats for which there are no definitions yet.

 

Is the new feature available in Home Edition?

 

Yes. It's enabled when you have 'Cloud based protection' and 'Automatic sample submission' turned on.

 

NavyLCDR hit the nail on the head. I believe that the majority of threats can be avoided simply by browsing the web smarter, and avoiding clicking on links or attachments in suspicious emails. I haven't had a virus in the last several years and only use windows defender.

 

Unfortunately, when I said similar things on a Chinese forum, I was criticized by my fellow countrymen.

 

The following attachment is from a well respected AV testing site.
It was taken in March, since when Creator has been introduced with its superior protection including sandboxing and anti-virus.