Windows 10: 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.
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*Smile):

Complete policy here

:)

 

Windows 10 updates repeatedly failing, little to no help from Microsoft support

Less evil? Evil is evil in the end.

 

Why does Windows 10 Defender give a notification message when it finds no threats?

Thank-you, Shilohbob, this has been driving me nuts. I understand why commercial antimalware vendors feel the need to constantly justify their presence (and cost, or free-to-paid upgrade path), but the antimalware that is built-in to the operating system
really shouldn't need to persistently bother me. The whole reason I stick with Defender rather than another provider, is that Defender should be quieter and less bothersome.

 

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.

 

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.

 

This can stop some of the built-in Spying tools in Windows 10. Spybot Anti-Beacon is a simple, portable and free tool built by Safer-Networking Ltd. It was designed to disable the various tracking (telemetry) features present in Windows 10.

Spybot Anti-Beacon Privacy-Protection Tool

 

Panda Free sees Spybot Anti-Beacon as a virus. I'm sure it's a false positive.

 

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.