SmartScreen enabled plus ASR rule "Block executable files from running unless they meet a prevalence, age, or trusted list criterion" to extend the SmartScreen to executables without motw.
I'm not interested in SmartScreen. It's too privacy invasive for my taste.
All free solutions collect data; they are provided free for a reason.
So... paid solutions aren't collecting any data, right? Because last AV Comparatives Data transmission test shows
otherwise.
I LOVE hearing
"free products are free because you're paying with your data". Reality? The payment method doesn't matter; all companies collect all kinds of data. The only thing that differs are the ways they do it.
If you're still not convinced, you don't have to look far. Just look at Microsoft, Google or any other tech products. You pay for Windows, you pay for Office, yet data leaves your computer anyway. Same goes for various VPNs too.
On the other hand, you have free and open source software that in most of cases, doesn't collect any data. Weird how it works.
They exist because sophisticated malware is being created every day.
I never said they abandoned the business they started or that they don't have any job. In fact, that's one of the profitable businesses. Back in time Windows had no antivirus software and 3rd party software was the only way to protect your PC. When Windows 10 came and capable Defender with it, the number of 3rd party antivirus users decreased. Only stubborn stayed. And no matter how capable Defender became, stubborn remembered it was long time ago garbage and will never switch to it.
With decrease in number of users, antivirus companies had to find a way to keep doing business and be profitable. How they achieved that? Easy. Just scare your users with everything, lie to them and include bunch of unnecessary tools in the name of security. And that's exactly what they did. This is exact reason why antivirus is everything but antivirus tool these days. From simple antivirus software you got Windows toolbox with everything that you don't need. Starting from (not-at-all private) VPN, "secure" browser (that probably has more vulnerabilities than the actual web browser), system cleaner (because why not), driver updater (why keep everything working normally when we can create a mess) and such.
If that were the only factor, Windows 11 wouldn't have any bugs—and yet, it's one of the worst operating systems ever made. So, the famous "Microsoft guarantee" is quite questionable.
Have you ever wondered why is Windows so damn problematic while macOS isn't? It's not because it's garbage piece of software. Yes, it could do a complete rewritte. But the most of the issues come from various types of hardware configurations and users creating problems.
If you ever tried to run Linux, you'd see that not everything is working correctly on all PCs. If you ever tried to create Hackintosh PC, you'd see that it works only on specific hardware, otherwise macOS would run like sh!t. Now you have Windows which is the most used desktop operating system in the world with billion of possible hardware combinations; it's simply impossible to make it all work together without any issues on every single configuration.
Not just that. In A LOT of cases, there's nothing wrong with the Windows itself. It's users that create problems by modifying settings and install software they really shouldn't. If Linux was on the spot of Windows, we'd have much worse issues because the operating system is even more unrestricted than Windows.
So... I wouldn't call Windows garbage. It's actually incredible that it works on astonishing number of hardware combinations. Unlike macOS which works only on one type of hardware, created by Apple.
