Security Software that works in Windows 8 CP

[Astrum]

Can you please list security software you tried with Windows 8 CP?

I installed Avast 7 Free edition and it has no issues so far. Some screenshots are here.

[Royalty]

Just a quick Google and this is what Google came up with: http://www.antivirusforwindows8.com/

[mrp04]

No point. It comes with the latest version of Windows Defender which is just the latest version of Security Essentials with a different name. It does anti-virus and anti-spyware. Windows has a built in firewall since XP SP2 and has improved a lot since then.

[Royalty]

I would say MSE aka MS Defender is the best as it's prone to your Windows 8 system.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

I suspect the HIPS modules in ESET Smart Security 5 will need to be disabled in order for the rest of the program to operate under Microsoft Windows 8.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[Astrum]

No point. It comes with the latest version of Windows Defender which is just the latest version of Security Essentials with a different name. It does anti-virus and anti-spyware. Windows has a built in firewall since XP SP2 and has improved a lot since then.

There is always a point in trying an alternative. It's clear about Windows Defender. I'm curious to see what else works fine.

[hcs4302]

Norton 360 ver6 is designed to work with windows 8

[Astrum]

Norton 360 ver6 is designed to work with windows 8

I see only NIS 2012 is claimed compatible. http://us.norton.com/windows8trial/promo

[Wakers]

Don't bother. MSE is built in and will be better than most at this stage of development for WIndows 8.

Don't bother. MSE is built in and will be better than most at this stage of development for WIndows 8.

[br0adband]

I find that one aspect of the new version(s) of MSE (the current beta for v4 from Connect) and also the "Windows Defender" remake in Windows 8 has one glaring little issue that I find unacceptable: you're no longer able to say basically to alert you that something is wrong and give YOU meaning the user the option on how to proceed. Older versions of MSE would allow you to uncheck the box as such (this is the current public build, 2.1.1116.0 as I'm back on Windows 7 at the moment):

Now, with the newer builds of the beta (again, v4 is the newer versioning) and in the WIndows 8 Consumer Preview, that option is no longer there and I can only hope it returns or the option to say "Ok, wait a minute, before you go off deleting files that MIGHT NOT be a virus or something malicious, I need to check on that..."

RIght now, with the v4 betas and Windows 8, it just deletes files, period. I have several files that are very old command line utilities that have never been updated to modern times and MSE always catches them as malicious software and they're not - I've tested them from time to time with every major anti-virus scanner there is, including all the popular online versions like VirusTotal and others. The files are clean and not malicious nor laden with viruses.

But, of course, as soon as the beta MSE builds see the file and Windows 8 too, wham, they're instantly deleted - and not even quarantined at all, I mean they are completely removed from the system without a trace and I'm forced to restore them from backups yet again and again.

It's pretty damned frustrating.

Anti-virus software should never ever ever automatically delete files without user intervention, and even if the ability exists it should always be optional and the end user should have the choice to enable or disable such functionality.

I get that this type of software is supposed to be doing more good than harm, but aside from the potential harm comes the solid frustration from having a file that was there a second ago now gone just because some software deemed it "dangerous" when it isn't, wasn't, and won't be.

Microsoft, are you listening? Don't make choices for me - it's my machine, I appreciate MSE, really, and I have been a huge and very vocal supporter of it since it went into beta years ago and before most anyone outside of Microsoft even knew about it, but this total lack of allowing me to decide what to do with a potential threat is flat out unacceptable.

[Wakers]

It prompted me for action when it found something it thought was suspicious, so I think the functionality is still there.

[Sadelwo]

Kaspersky has a Technical preview available but some people have issues. Compared to the one they released for the Windows 7 Beta back in 2009 this one is less stable.

[cropcircles]

No point. It comes with the latest version of Windows Defender which is just the latest version of Security Essentials with a different name. It does anti-virus and anti-spyware. Windows has a built in firewall since XP SP2 and has improved a lot since then.

The problem I have with Essentials is it doesn't specify location of malware/false positive it might pick up and guarantine. Just gives you the option to keep, quarantine or delete unless I missed an option somewhere in the settings.

[~Johnny]

The problem I have with Essentials/Defender in 8 is that you can't right click on a file and scan it, like you can with Essentials outside of 8, which is a tad annoying.

[HawkMan]

The problem I have with Essentials is it doesn't specify location of malware/false positive it might pick up and guarantine. Just gives you the option to keep, quarantine or delete unless I missed an option somewhere in the settings.

Click the more info text, then again on the next screen.