App Review [Britec09] Does Windows Defender Offer Enough Protection in Windows 10

It is advised to take all reviews with a grain of salt. In extreme cases some reviews use dramatization for entertainment purposes.

cruelsister

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A couple of issues regarding this video-

1). Remember that the main strength of Defender on Windows 10 is it's integration with the Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI) that was initiated with W10. This increased the systems protection against scriptors of all sorts (like Worms) which is sorely lacking in many available Security products. The prime goal here is to make the transition to Windows 10 more palatable for the Corporate space (remember that the majority of Corporate breaches are caused by simple scripts). So although WD did fine against the ransomware that was used in this test, it is not even close to describing the true strength of WD (also, use different ransomware and the results would be different).

2). Why on earth did B try to change the extension of the malware from hta to exe at 6:30 or so of this video? It doesn't work like that, Britec! Also some time needs to be given for the ransomware to work as it normally will attempt to contact Command and as we all know the Internet can be SO slow at times.
 
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Rod McCarthy

I think for someone who is a little PC savvy, uses common sense, and doesn't walk into any PC war zones, they could use WD and maybe add cloud only like Immunet, and also have on-demand scanners like Emergency kit and Hitman Pro.
 
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Britec

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Sep 28, 2015
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cruelsister 1. The system is clean and free from ransomware, it blocked all of them, I give it time and rebooted no ransomware got on that system. 2. I know Zepto is .hta file format and how it works, I was 3 beers in and was not thinking straight. Its hard to please everyone I guess, people seem to watch videos nowadays and just look for the mistakes.
 
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Rod McCarthy

cruelsister 1. The system is clean and free from ransomware, it blocked all of them, I give it time and rebooted no ransomware got on that system. 2. I know Zepto is .hta file format and how it works, I was 3 beers in and was not thinking straight. Its hard to please everyone I guess, people seem to watch videos nowadays and just look for the mistakes.

Luckily for CS you only had 2 beers...Can you imagine what would have happened if you would have had 6 beers and where chasing it with Maker's Mark?
 
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Lucent Warrior

I would like to point this out again. Please take a look at some of my videos residing in the reviews section or look at some of my posts still in the malwarehub, very seldom do i execute a sample and it bypasses Smartscreen "right there windows has blocked the problem" once LET past smartscreen, either a UAC prompt or the product im testing nails it or does not. This is part of Windows built in protection, now im going to also throw out there, i challenge anyone to download a sample pack and extract it with windows defender on, chances are if you have any left in the folder, it will not be many. All testers in videos disable smartscreen because they "want to save time" but it does not reflect the true nature of the OS and its built in security. What you read, will more then likely be quite different from what you will witness if you just test it yourself.

All this said, i use Windows Defender with nothing but Appguard for those rare occasions something might bypass SS,UAC, and WD.

Too many what if scenarios floating around in this forum now days, almost as bad as the scare tactics used on both sides of this fence, by the criminals and those swearing to defend you from them.
 

shmu26

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if the most important thing to you is a perfectly and beautifully working system, and you know how to keep yourself out of trouble, then WD is for you.
If you want max security and are willing to put up with possible conflicts and complications on your system, then go for something stronger.
 

tonibalas

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@Lucent Warrior i agree with you.
That's why i have commented on some of your videos that Smart Screen works very well.
And it's Windows that is blockind the threat first and then the security product.
As i said before with safe security habits Windows 10 own security can protect you pretty well these days without needing any other 3rd party security product.
 

shmu26

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@Lucent Warrior i agree with you.
That's why i have commented on some of your videos that Smart Screen works very well.
And it's Windows that is blockind the threat first and then the security product.
As i said before with safe security habits Windows 10 own security can protect you pretty well these days without needing any other 3rd party security product.
the big problem with smartscreen (at least for me) is that there are too many niche programs that smartscreen blocks, so I am forced to override it, and so that leaves me open to user error.
For instance, I think it used to block voodooshield...
 
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tonibalas

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@shmu26 about that you are right.
But as i said "if you have safe browsing habits" Windows built in security is pretty good.
And if you download software from know sites like Softpedia or even better here from MT then even if smartscreen blocks it
you still know that is safe to override it;)
 
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Lucent Warrior

so that leaves me open to user error.

That right there is the real problem in computer security, lack of knowledge or caring by average users. I say this is a problem both ways, because if they can not look and realize if they prompted this application to launch, or do not know enough to pop a browser open and look it up before pressing run, then they will not know how to answer a security product that has their system locked down. Windows defaults alone provides a nice balance of usability and security. I could literally run it and be fine, although i test malware like its going out of style on this system, so i have the little extra help of appguard to tighten down my VM.
 

NekoHr

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For average user WD is good enough. Can it be bypassed, yes. Are there better options, yes. Are they simpler for average user, probably not (maybe Bitdefender free). WD + backup should be enough.

On the other hand users at this forum would and will install bunch of other stuff (if only in VM) and will find better protection and security but we are not average users. We like to thinker and poke at everything and don't mind if something is broken (we actually like to find broken things) and by doing this improve situation for average users. Pushing other security software we are also pushing MS to improve.
 
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