Is Windows Defender good enough to switch from Avast?

Long story short, I have to visit the shadiest, crappiest websites riddled with viruses and malware, as part of one of my jobs. Thus, I need a good antivirus. I have been using Avast Free for years, and it protected me well.

Over time, I learned to trust and respect Microsoft, who in Windows 10 implemented a number of features I have been dreaming about literally for years, to the point I don't really want to switch to Linux anymore. Using a built-in Windows feature vs third-party appeals to me, and my trust in Avast has somewhat diminished after their screw-ups with Ccleaner.

Due to my particular use case, antivirus reliability is critical. Is Windows Defender up to the task, or should I stay with Avast?

 

Avast is probably better. Check out some of the post in the Antivirus sub forum where they users post charts and statistics. Avast won top AV 2018. Granted they had the controversy with webcam access.

I personally love ESET NOD32, but I think last tests it showed it only blocked 98% of malware that was tested, or was it 99.8%, anyway it was not 100% and also suffered from false positive ; albeit a minuscule amount.


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On my devices, webcam is either disabled in BIOS or covered with sliding thing a-la Thinkshutter. Microphone access also addressed, via kill-switch. Thus this particular issue is not much of a concern.

False positives are also OK.

Oh, and of course Avast HTTPS scanning, which is on by default, is disabled.

To elaborate a bit on the whole trust Microsoft thing - I trust that they actually try to develop a good product, and might succeed in it. I would not by any means trust Microsoft with my data, or Avast or most other companies except select few for that matter; do not have Microsoft account, all telemetry disabled, personal (work-unrelated) browser tweaked the hell out for both security & privacy. But I can't touch work-related browser, it must provide vanilla browsing experience.

 

They had some shady exe that required webcam access. So some users abandoned ship, me included.

NOD32 Is popular because it's the one with lowest performance impact and amazing protection.



https://www.av-comparatives.org/latest-tests/

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I can vouche for Windows Defender. I also visit lots of shady non pr0n sites and Defender is really good at spotting malware and viruses. In fact I will say that with each Windows release, Windows Defender keeps getting better, at least for me. Some may have a different opinion but it's saved my bacon many times.

 

@Starlight5 You can use Configure Defender by Andy Ful https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/configuredefender.html to put WD in child protection mode for max protection (false +ve detection is more).
If you find any bugs or have any suggestion visit him here
I switched back to WD from KSC Free because Ksc free removes custom bat scripts when WD passes them as safe.

 

@Vasudev the utility looks very useful, thanks for the link! I sometimes have to visit adult (porn, graphic violence, otherwise unsuited for younger audiences) websites for work, so I believe child mode is sadly not an option.

On second thought, for me false positives are OK for downloads with pirate content, which as far as I understand is enforced in some antiviruses for third party copyright protection. Avast does that too, it's no problem. However, blocking a website based on reputation alone - not the actual malicious scripts running or malicious download starting or inappropriate content - is unsuitable for me.

 

Child protection means max containment mode so if you're visiting highly confidential and private info use that. I use medium to high cloud blocking and heuristics and most pirated contents aren't detected by WD.

 

I've been using Avast free for many many years but it's got way too annoying with constant ads and offers and popups which can't be disabled. On my latest laptop with a fresh windows I've left only MS Defender and so far it seems to be doing a good job. I probably won't install Avast, at least for now.

 

Odd, I use Avast also and do not receive any ads. Maybe my No-Scrip is blocking them?

 

Defender for Windows 10 work just as good or better then others aka Norton/McAfee. Those two are the most attacked A/V and you can pretty guess they are broken more then offering protection. Put this way if you go to dark sites or Adult malware infected site no amount of protection will protect you. What you need to do first.
1. Password Protect your Admin/Owner account
2. Make and use a Standard Account so infection can't unsurp the Admin account because you failed to password protect it.
3. Password protected prevents unsecured or other users from installing software that they shouldn't be doing.
4. Doing this will go long long way to help the A/V do more to protect the system
5. Defender for Windows 10 is free for users of Windows 10 - what more can one get something for free!!

 

None should use Avast! Avast taken with the pants down, once again...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/avast-and-avg-snooping-issues.831246/#post-10987588

 

Defender and Windows Firewall are good enough for everyday use - after using ESET for nearly a decade (before they changed the name and started forcing you to upgrade), I find they work just as well, while being fast and free.

If you visit the shadiest sites, it may be a good idea to use a VM, preferably running Linux - that should protect your host OS more than any AV/Firewall can.

 

So I finally did it today. Bye-bye to Avast after over a decade of use, now it's Windows defender for me. Took quite some time to enable everything,

Oh I'd love that, but battery life is rather poor on my laptop even without VMs...