Fozzieb Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Man, only had vista installed for a week or two and thought I would install Ad-Aware to see if Windows Defender had let anything through. Well 56 critical objects were found...... 56, bloody hell what was the point of including Windows Defender if it does not defend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tantawi Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Ad-Aware found 56 cookies I assume? those are not very harmful like other dlls and reg keys. Still should be removed though. I agree that Windows Defender is not worth running and it's the first thing I disable on any Vista install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzieb Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 Yip panic over, all were cookies :whistle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahhell Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Adware will ALWAYS find stuff. Don't trust that application at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brody McKee Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Anyone that disables Defender is an idiot. Install a secondary anti-spyware application if you feel that you have to, but don't disable core security features - because that will result in you coming back here in a few months and bitching about how insecure Windows is... all because you disabled a feature that you shouldn't have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azz0r_wugg Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 56 cookies... Does Defender bother with cookies? Defender does a great job and it's updated weekly via Windows Update. Can't complain about that I'm afraid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tantawi Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Anyone that disables Defender is an idiot. Install a secondary anti-spyware application if you feel that you have to, but don't disable core security features - because that will result in you coming back here in a few months and bitching about how insecure Windows is... all because you disabled a feature that you shouldn't have. I've disabled it on XP/Vista since the day it came out and I'm not an idiot, don't generalize on something because it's different than what you do. And well, I've NEVER ran any anti-adware full time, I have 2 installed and run them periodically to clean those 4 cookies each time, heck I knew people who don't even run an antivirus in their entire "mature" computer life and they never had any problem, because they have a brain and they know what they're doing and don't drool when they see an email with "I'm a pretty girl click me click me". Everyone has the choice, and in the same time the full responsibility if his computer got wiped out by a virus/adware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Just because you browse a total of 4 websites that doesn't mean everyone else out there does.. You sound like a buffoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unimatrix Xero Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Defender is a very good program never had any issues with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tantawi Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Just because you browse a total of 4 websites that doesn't mean everyone else out there does.. You sound like a buffoon. yeah right, that's a good way to discuss something like an adult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBeaver Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I had defender on before and I was just about to do a reinstall of vista so I wasn't very careful about what programs I ran, no AV installed either. Well I downloaded some small application I was going to use and I managed to download the wrong file. Long story short, it was some multi-trojan that installed itself everywhere. I noticed it right away and when it had about 5 different processes running now all of a sudden the "defender" walks in and and says that it found a virus. Not very helpful since defender couldn't do anything to stop it, the trojan had downloaded and installed a few different trojans and viruses but defender couldn't do anything but say it found a virus, then defender crashed because it's a crappy application (the viruses did not infect defender because they were too old to be aware of defender). Now I run vista that is stripped from defender completly (using vlite) and a good AV software. That is all you need. of course, if you use your computer carefully you don't need anything, I don't have any protection on my laptop and that is never a problem because I never download shady stuff with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aero Ultimate Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Anyone that disables Defender is an idiot. Wrong, very wrong! Anyone who doesn't disable this crap and relies on its pitiful performance is an idiot! :p Programs like Ad-Aware are a huge deal better on finding adware, and there's absolutely no reason why you should leave it running in the background wasting cpu time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.MULLA Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 a/v software is essential on a windows machine- its absolutely stupid not to have a decent a/v software. one thing people dont realise is most viruses and spyware are directed to english speaking countries- i.e UK/US etc.. its now wonder spyware is soo rife in the UK. and when people read posts like tantaki's they have doubt- " shall i have it or not since this guy who posted doesnt use any av software" i would say it would totally depend on the user(s) on the pc and internet surfing habits. but just like a few week ago a virus trojan/spam site was attached to the theme of neowin. even innocent sites can be affected by viruses- good job i had nod 32 :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scaramonga Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 How cr*p is Vista more to the point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tantawi Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 a/v software is essential on a windows machine- its absolutely stupid not to have a decent a/v software. one thing people dont realise is most viruses and spyware are directed to english speaking countries- i.e UK/US etc.. its now wonder spyware is soo rife in the UK. and when people read posts like tantaki's they have doubt- " shall i have it or not since this guy who posted doesnt use any av software"i would say it would totally depend on the user(s) on the pc and internet surfing habits. but just like a few week ago a virus trojan/spam site was attached to the theme of neowin. even innocent sites can be affected by viruses- good job i had nod 32 :D Welcome to 2007 and the internet :D where viruses may attack anyone! I DO have an antivirus, NOD32 too (Y) and it's doing a great job updating everyday :sleep: , have yet to see it catches any virus though, even when my 13 years old sister uses my PC. An antivirus and a brain is what most people is using today, and a brain only is sufficient though, an anti-spyware program is a welcome addition if you don't mind the extra 1% slowdown, or trust your IQ by 99% or less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkburn Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 If someone can actually point out why they believe Windows Defender to be rubbish, perhaps you won't get treated like you are? It is perfectly capable of protecting a PC, and you can use a different one if you want. This isn't "us vs. them". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deihmos Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I don't see why anyone would say defender is rubbish. I don't know if it is or not but all i know is that it doesn't bother me. Why is anyone even concerned with this program? I wouldn't trust adaware as it will always find some useless junk on your hard drive that does not affect anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevets Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 If someone can actually point out why they believe Windows Defender to be rubbish, perhaps you won't get treated like you are?It is perfectly capable of protecting a PC, and you can use a different one if you want. This isn't "us vs. them". I not quite sure if it's perfectly capable of protecting a PC. It hasn't caught anything in the past month I've been installing a lot of ad-laced software for testing. It never blocks any programs that installs startup items, but keeps complaining if I disable them using msconfig or other programs, and sometimes using windows defender itself (them i have to totally delete the startup item). Adaware, and spybot is what I added on later and caught most of the stuff including keylogging executables, reg entries, cookies, web shortcuts etc. People might not have any issues, but having a programs sitting there like a couch potato is not very useful either. I will keep testing till end of march... but I'm already considering giving it the BOOT. My laptops don't have a lot of resources for useless programs. If it's anything that's very harmful, I trust my AV program will do it's job. I don't trust windows defender. I have grown out of the trust in MS security.... Will have to wait and see if I can trust them again. :whistle: I wouldn't trust adaware as it will always find some useless junk on your hard drive that does not affect anything. You say it's "useless junk" and are you 100% sure it doesn't and won't affect anything? Don't you at least want "useless junk" out of you computer? :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deihmos Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I not quite sure if it's perfectly capable of protecting a PC. It hasn't caught anything in the past month I've been installing a lot of ad-laced software for testing. It never blocks any programs that installs startup items, but keeps complaining if I disable them using msconfig or other programs, and sometimes using windows defender itself (them i have to totally delete the startup item).Adaware, and spybot is what I added on later and caught most of the stuff including keylogging executables, reg entries, cookies, web shortcuts etc. People might not have any issues, but having a programs sitting there like a couch potato is not very useful either. I will keep testing till end of march... but I'm already considering giving it the BOOT. My laptops don't have a lot of resources for useless programs. If it's anything that's very harmful, I trust my AV program will do it's job. I don't trust windows defender. I have grown out of the trust in MS security.... Will have to wait and see if I can trust them again. You say it's "useless junk" and are you 100% sure it doesn't and won't affect anything? Don't you at least want "useless junk" out of you computer? :| I don't consider cookies harmful. They can be easily deleted without using Adaware. I have not seen a pop up or anything in years and I didn't use spyware protectors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPressland Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 OMG! WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP! Who cares if it's good or not. the simple point is that Microsoft put it in there to help and it does help with some stuff. And what the hell to the dude on page one saying it eats up CPU Cycles.. if a application like defender is using more CPU Cycles then you've got spare then you've got something seriously wrong with your system. Ok, Rant over. Basicaly. it was never designed to be used Stand Alone, it was always ment to be used with another peice of software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aero Ultimate Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 If someone can actually point out why they believe Windows Defender to be rubbish, perhaps you won't get treated like you are? In a recent test, Defender wasn't even able to find at least half of the threats. That's already ludicrously bad! :pinch: Relying on this useless piece of junk would only create a false sense of security. Furthermore, it doesn't protect against viruses at all, which are still a much bigger threat than spyware. what you should have to be safe is: - a good anti-virus (e.g. Kaspersky, but some seem to be quite fond of nod) - a good firewall (as the Vista one is crap). Currently the best?with?Vista?support is in Kaspersky Internet Security.?Outpost?is?still?better,?but?lacks?Vista?support. For a free firewall, Comodo would be best (no Vista support yet common?senseon?sense?(e.g. not clicking on attachments of emails that you didn't request) - optionally, a good anti-spyware program like Ad-Aware. Defender is of no use whatsoever, as it can't even do the little what it's supposed to do properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deihmos Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 (edited) The vista firewall, good router and antivirus is all that is needed. Anything else is just useless clutter. Edited February 26, 2007 by Deihmos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkburn Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 It never blocks any programs that installs startup items, but keeps complaining if I disable them using msconfig or other programs, and sometimes using windows defender itself (them i have to totally delete the startup item). Why should it block them? It should block malicious programs, not those that try to install startup programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkburn Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 In a recent test, Defender wasn't even able to find at least half of the threats. That's already ludicrously bad! :pinch: Relying on this useless piece of junk would only create a false sense of security. Furthermore, it doesn't protect against viruses at all, which are still a much bigger threat than spyware. ... Defender is of no use whatsoever, as it can't even do the little what it's supposed to do properly. It's not an anti-virus program, so don't complain that it doesn't protect you from them! What a stupid comparison to make ... I've seen other tests where Defender was just as good as other progs. I've seen tests where it's better. See I can make unsourced statements (that I know to be true) about the reliability of Defender as well. I'm not saying there aren't better programs out there (some of which you have to pay for, or put up with adverts), but that Defender is not as bad as you all want to believe. For one, it auto-updates and scans unlike some of the popular programs out there. I also note you mention an anti-spyware program is optional. Surely some protection is better than none? You get one free with Vista ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarStorm Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I think your all missing the point here. Take the average non computer nerd. He/she probably has never heard to Adware or Spyware. Windows Defender is a first line of defense for them people because they dont know other programs even exsist. So Windows Defender may not be up to scratch yet but to the average person who know nothing, it works well enough atm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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