Advice Request I have an older slower Laptop w/ Win11, would replacing Windows Defender with F-Secure speed it up?

[TedCruz]

The laptop is an 2018 Dell Latitude i7 7th Gen CPU with 8 GB of Ram. I have added SSD to it in order to give it a little more oomph, however, running Power BI on it is painful. Currently, I am running Windows defender with Configure Defender on Max, so I was wondering if F-Secure would have:
1) Improve its performance or at least response Time
2) Make it more secure?

Currently, the windows defender is maxed out, core isolation is on, and so it's ransomware and block at first sight.

I have tried Process Lasso to see if it could improve it but I barely notice any difference.

Thank you

 

[Mystic]

The first thing I would do is to downgrade to Windows 10 as your CPU is not supported by Win11.
Regarding F-Secure, yes it will make a difference. It is much lighter than MD.

 

[pxxb1]

The laptop is an 2018 Dell Latitude i7 7th Gen CPU with 8 GB of Ram. I have added SSD to it in order to give it a little more oomph, however, running Power BI on it is painful. Currently, I am running Windows defender with Configure Defender on Max, so I was wondering if F-Secure would have:
1) Improve its performance or at least response Time
2) Make it more secure?

Currently, the windows defender is maxed out, core isolation is on, and so it's ransomware and block at first sight.

I have tried Process Lasso to see if it could improve it but I barely notice any difference.

Thank you

Ms Defender and with activated Core isolation can slow down considerably.
Most free Av:s with either Sandboxie and/or Hard Configurator is enough and should let loose some power and speed. S-boxie, H_C and a good free Av would both be more secure, and lighter on the machine.

 

[brambedkar59]

You should try installing trial version of f-secure from here and see how it performs on ur system (I am running F-secure on my older laptop with Win10, seems pretty light). Protection wise either should be fine.

 

[Digmor Crusher]

On my computer F Secure uses more ram then Defender, which of course means absolutely nothing until you try it on yours.

Protection wise, I think F Secure may provide a bit more protection then Defender, but if you throw Configure Defender into the mix it may be a draw.

Edit: Core isolation may be the reason your rig is slow, try turning off to see what happens.

 

[Back3]

My desktop is an 2017 Asus I5 7th Gen CPU with 8 GB of Ram. I also have a SSD.

I used a lot of tweaks to improve performance: https://www.askvg.com/guide-make-windows-11-super-fast-on-slow-or-old-hardware-devices/

F-Secure Safe with OSArmor are my 2 main security apps. I'd say my PC is fast enough to keep it for a few more years. I had Microsoft Defender and Configure Defender for over 2 years and the performance was also good.

 

[TedCruz]

On my computer F Secure uses more ram then Defender, which of course means absolutely nothing until you try it on yours.

Protection wise, I think F Secure may provide a bit more protection then Defender, but if you throw Configure Defender into the mix it may be a draw.

Edit: Core isolation may be the reason your rig is slow, try turning off to see what happens.

Thanks, I will turn off Core Isolation.

Do you know how the protection is affected with it off?

 

[Digmor Crusher]

Thanks, I will turn off Core Isolation.

Do you know how the protection is affected with it off?

Sorry, nope, others may chime in.

 

[Thales]

Downgrade to Win 10 and you will be fine.

 

[pxxb1]

The laptop is an 2018 Dell Latitude i7 7th Gen CPU with 8 GB of Ram. I have added SSD to it in order to give it a little more oomph, however, running Power BI on it is painful. Currently, I am running Windows defender with Configure Defender on Max, so I was wondering if F-Secure would have:
1) Improve its performance or at least response Time
2) Make it more secure?

Currently, the windows defender is maxed out, core isolation is on, and so it's ransomware and block at first sight.

I have tried Process Lasso to see if it could improve it but I barely notice any difference.

Thank you

Why do you need so high, tight, security on your pc, do you do so much risky actions?

 

[TedCruz]

Why do you need so high, tight, security on your pc, do you do so much risky actions?

I am a government employee and I want to be safe at home.

 

[pxxb1]

I am a government employee and I want to be safe at home.

That did not answer the question.

Being infected is quite an achievement, one has to be very careless and ignorant. If one is a home user there is a very little chance that one will be infected since creating malware costs, and they do not create these thing to spend them on us normal guys. They want bigger fish. Mixing with the memory is for big fish. The worst you can experience is that something happens to the browser, hence the suggestion about Sandboxie. To get something besides that on your pc you need to install it by yourself, a.k.a be careless. H_C, also mentioned before, takes care of that. A good free Av like Wisevector StopX will top that set up and make it a fort. You do not need more than that, trust me.
And all this is a light set up.

But start with inactivating Core isolation to see if that is the culprit.

Besides, if your pc do not meet certain requisites, it will not help much anyway: How to Enable or Disable Core Isolation and Memory Integrity in Windows 11/10.
It is better to learn to act safely with the pc then arming it to the brim.

 

[TedCruz]

That did not answer the question.

Being infected is quite an achievement, one has to be very careless and ignorant. If one is a home user there is a very little chance that one will be infected since creating malware costs, and they do not create these thing to spend them on us normal guys. They want bigger fish. Mixing with the memory is for big fish. The worst you can experience is that something happens to the browser, hence the suggestion about Sandboxie. To get something besides that on your pc you need to install it by yourself, a.k.a be careless. H_C, also mentioned before, takes care of that. A good free Av like Wisevector StopX will top that set up and make it a fort. You do not need more than that, trust me.
And all this is a light set up.

But start with inactivating Core isolation to see if that is the culprit.

Besides, if your pc do not meet certain requisites, it will not help much anyway: How to Enable or Disable Core Isolation and Memory Integrity in Windows 11/10.
It is better to learn to act safely with the pc then arming it to the brim.

We all suffer from a momentary lapses or reason or senior moments. Even the best IT hawk eyes get tired. I want to protect myself from myself. And thank you for the Core Isolation tip.

 

[pxxb1]

I am a government employee and I want to be safe at home.

There is one set up that is even safer but still light, Wisevector StopX together with Comodo firewall with Cruelsister settings (comodo has a sandbox to, that you can use for the browser). That set up will also protect the memory. You can read more about that combo in the end of the Wisevector thread here on the forum.

But as i mentioned earlier, it is hard, rare, to get infected actually, more important is to backup regularly than adding security. Normally.

Your pc is powerfull enough so Defender or not should not make a big difference, but Core isolation probably will.


Oh, and everything mentioned so far is free and safer than F-Secure.

 

[roger_m]

The first thing I would do is to downgrade to Windows 10 as your CPU is not supported by Win11.
Regarding F-Secure, yes it will make a difference. It is much lighter than MD.

Microsoft let you upgrade on unsupported hardware. I upgraded months ago on unsupported hardware and performance is better than Windows 10.

 

[Shadowra]

F-Secure is a very light antivirus so, for me, it will run without difficulty.
I recommend you to take the trial version on the official website and try it

 

[Mystic]

Microsoft let you upgrade on unsupported hardware. I upgraded months ago on unsupported hardware and performance is better than Windows 10.

They stated that it would be at your own risk, right? For me Windows 10 is good enough even more mature that W11 is.

 

[roger_m]

They stated that it would be at your own risk, right?

Yes and they don't provide support. However for me it was worth it due to the increased performance and I haven't had any major issues,

 

[Mystic]

haven't had any major issues,

Yet.

I don't want to go off topic, but W11 is basically W10. I don't want to support MS in throwing away millions of devices which are capable of running any version of W. As long as W10 is working, I'll keep using it. If any version reaches EOL, I'll use the Enterprise or Education version. If that reaches EOL, I'll dig up the earth and grab a copy of LTSC.

 

[roger_m]

Yet.

I don't expect to have any, considering that as you said, Windows 11 is basically Windows 10. Windows 11 does not actually require a TPM 2.0 chip or one of the supported CPUs. Microsoft just added these requirements for increased security and reliability. As a result, I see no reason for Windows 11 to be any less reliable than Windows 10, even on unsupported hardware.