The best Windows antivirus software for home users. Defender is the worse

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https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/

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Cybertooth

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I started using Microsoft Security Essentials with Windows XP and added Malwarebytes Free after I went to Windows 7.  I bought Malwarebytes Premium lifetime a bit later.  After upgrading to Windows 8, Windows Defender took over and I kept Malwarebytes.  Windows Defender is now Microsoft Defender.

I’ve done plenty of anecdotal testing on my own and continue to do so.  Microsoft Defender and/or Malwarebytes continue to block bad/questionable sites successfully, and I have yet to find any reason to use anything else.  Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium work flawlessly together in my experience.  In all these years I have had a singular instance when I had to disable Malwarebytes for a software update, and I have never had to disable Defender.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

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Steve, AlphaCharlie, opti1, geekdom, Nibbled To Death By Ducks, RetiredGeek, Mele20, joep517

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This forum does not need to get into that notorious mess that is the ratings of various anti virus programs.

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FWIW: My experience is exactly the same as bbearren’s!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
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bbearren

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Can any 3rd party vendor be used in conjunction with Defender, thinking Bitdefender?

Cheers

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Can any 3rd party vendor be used in conjunction with Defender, thinking Bitdefender?

Defender and Bitdefender work very well together.  I’ve used Bitdefender for years and love it.

Desktop Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

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Matador

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It might have a lower score but from the report achieved certification which is still very good.

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Well, it seems that the same site ranked it in the ‘Top Ten” in Dec.2021 and Feb. 2022.

Things change in this A/V evaluation game. There are some consistencies over time, and not all engines are tested each time on any given A/V test site.

Mele 20, it IS a can of worms, depending on who is doing the testing, the version of the A/V, variations in the Earth’s magnetic field, etc, etc. He who is up today is down a few months later.

Being a Win 7 holdout, I use MSE and MalewareBytes free.

Seems to work. when MS stops supporting MSE, I’ll use Eset. Used them for a long time, was very happy.

Win7 Pro SP1 64-bit, Dell Latitude E6330 ("The Tank"), Intel CORE i5 "Ivy Bridge", 12GB RAM, Group "0Patch", Multiple Air-Gapped backup drives in different locations. Linux Mint Newbie
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"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

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SueW, bbearren, geekdom

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks wrote:

depending on who is doing the testing, the version of the A/V, variations in the Earth’s magnetic field, etc, etc. He who is up today is down a few months later.

Ratings differ. Pick your rating.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
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geekdom wrote:

Ratings differ. Pick your rating.

Agreed, which in my experience makes A/V rating sites pretty much irrelevant.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks wrote:

Being a Win 7 holdout, I use MSE and MalewareBytes free. Seems to work. when MS stops supporting MSE, I’ll use Eset. Used them for a long time, was very happy.

FYI – ESET is now rolling out version 16. If you are running Win 7, when you get the ESET v16 update it will give you a popup window to let you know that Microsoft no longer supports Win 7, that ESET v16 will still run on Win 7, but no guarantees how long that will continue, and instructions on how to turn off this nag window (which will continue to pop up each time you start up Win 7 unless you follow those instructions).

If I remember correctly ESET did the same thing when they released version 15 so who knows when they actually will pull the plug . . . but it’s coming . . .

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SueW

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No, Total AV is the worst – scores 5 for protection..

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Microsoft Defender has become my real-time AV of choice, after years of using 3rd party solutions.

After many years, I have recently had several conflicts and other annoyances with Win 10 and 3rd party AVs. So I ditched them all. With the mostly respectable AV test scores of the latest incarnation of Microsoft Defender, and the least interference with Windows, I let it roll.

But I also do add the free on-demand, 2nd opinion scanners from Malwarebytes and Emsisoft, and run them weekly.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download (you can run it in full trial mode for 14 days, or change to the free on-demand version within Settings > Account) https://www.malwarebytes.com/trial

https://www.emsisoft.com/en/home/emergency-kit/ “A scanner that can be used without installation to scan and clean infected computers”

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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cajunbulldog, SueW, NaNoNyMouse

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