Windows Defender - Pro's & Con's

[jackuars]

With respect to the Free Antivirus of the Year 2017 competition, we've a thread series where users of the various products will be joining together to state the Pro's and Con's of each antivirus software and why they think it was a contender or not for the Free Antivirus of the Year 2017.

In this thread we'll talk about the Pro's and Con's you have found about Windows Defender. It achieved the Third Spot in the Poll conducted recently.

The first post will be updated by me [or the mods] with what user's think is good and bad about the product, so an informed decision can be made for newcomers.

Related Threads:
Avast Free Antivirus - Pro's & Con's
Kaspersky Free Antivirus - Pro's & Con's

 

[shmu26]

Cons:
1 Detection is inconsistent. Sometimes it will detect/block a file, and sometimes it will allow the same file.
2 Advanced exploit protections are quirky and buggy.

 

[tim one]

Pros

- It is integrated with Windows
- Malware protection improved
- Currently it is part of Security Center

Cons

- Detection ratio is expected to further improve
- Full scan slows down the PC
- There aren't many extra features.

Comment

Windows Defender malware protection is not efficient like the one of Bitdefender or Avast for example, even if its ability to detect and clean malicious code has improved in recent years.
On this context, there is still some work to do, especially when compared with the competitors.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

Pros:
- Doesn't slowdown boottime
- Well implemented into windows
- Signs of improvement
- Ransomware file protection with Controlled folder access

Cons:
- Slows down significantly during updates
- Relatively long update time
- Slows down copying speed due to slow scanning speed and no noticeable caching method
- Poor scanning signatures but far better on file execution (cloud)
- Slow and buggy malware removal
- Not easy to be disabled for average users. Will turn it on automatically later
- Tweaked settings are still bypassed by malwares
- Bad exclusion method

 

[jackuars]

- Not easy to be disabled for average users. Will turn it on automatically later

Just a question here, if I install a third-party AV, I can see Windows Defender in Win10 still active in tray. Following this:
Are the real-time shields of Defender on at this point?
Is it recommended to disable Defender?
How do I do this if it's okay?

 

[XhenEd]

Just a question here, if I install a third-party AV, I can see Windows Defender in Win10 still active in tray.

No. But you will see Windows Defender Security Center on the tray. It's a security center, and not all about Windows Defender.

Are the real-time shields of Defender on at this point?

No.

Is it recommended to disable Defender?

No need. It's off whenever there's another AV installed.

 

[DeepWeb]

Pro:
-Good detection rate
-Fewest amounts of issues with other programs
-Extremely low false positive rate

Cons:
-Horrible UI
-Definition database can corrupt
-High CPU usage
-Slow system scans

 

[Evjl's Rain]

Just a question here, if I install a third-party AV, I can see Windows Defender in Win10 still active in tray. Following this:
Are the real-time shields of Defender on at this point?
Is it recommended to disable Defender?
How do I do this if it's okay?

he answered it all. it's not WD

but you can can disable it too by task manager -> startup -> disable WD...

 

[Deleted member 178]

i will add the most troublesome Con:

WinDef is sooooo long to display a folder with many executables.... in 2018, it is a shame...

 

[Slerion]

Pro
Already installed
No maintenance needed

Contra
Bad detection rates.
EATS ALOT OF CPU specially bad if your a gamer.
Spikes in performance consumption ( Aka CPU to weird times )
FP

 

[DeepWeb]

Has anyone figured out how to whitelist a process properly? The documentation is complete crap. I tried just the name of the executable, and other times the entire path. Either way Windows Defender would still scan the process making 2nd opinion scanners impossible without Windows Defender checking what the other scanner is scanning...

 

[plat1098]

For me, currently using Windows Defender--

Pros:
-great to layer with certain standalones like anti-executable
-conveniently built-in
-decent security foundation
-less risk of OS misbehaving if Defender is enabled and running as core security

Cons:
-vague, user unfriendly and poorly organized interface.
-certain features require knowledge they even exist
-configuration of desirable features like PUA detections are scattered all over the place (eg: PowerShell, registry)
-exploit mitigations like DEP may trigger access violation errors in certain cases when another software w/similar or overlapping protections is installed. It can then be challenging to try to figure out what and where the problem is and may require restart of computer multiple times
-if connected drives are filled with bulky files, scanning via MpEng is terribly slow and some programs may take relatively long to open
-burying the "refresh" function in Device Performance and Health versus "reset" in Update and Security

 

[shmu26]

Pros:
1 Compatible with all software
2 You can use Andy Ful's ConfigureDefender utility to unlock advanced features
3 It scans when you are away from the computer, so it doesn't bother you (if you have a laptop, leave the lid up when you walk away from the computer).

 

[Andy Ful]

Has anyone figured out how to whitelist a process properly? The documentation is complete crap. I tried just the name of the executable, and other times the entire path. Either way Windows Defender would still scan the process making 2nd opinion scanners impossible without Windows Defender checking what the other scanner is scanning...

Did you try to do this via Security Center? You have three options there: File, Folder, Extension. There is also the fourth option Process, but it is related to Controlled Folder Access exclusions.

 

[509322]

Obviously with Windows Defender the user cannot uninstall it, but fortunately they can use something else if they wish.

Here's the Pros & Cons of any software product... the user has to decide for herself or himself what they like best - what works best for them personally on their specific system(s).

Going down a list of Pros & Cons is helpful to an extent, but ultimately such lists are a very poor substitute for the actual experience of the user actually installing the product and evaluating it for themselves.

Security begins with knowledge - and a big part of that knowledge is experience. And experience is gained by doing. Face reality, the vast majority of people don't want to do when it comes to installing and evaluation security softs, configuring their systems, etc. They'd much rather read a list and skip the doing.

And then they should stick with whatever they choose - and ignore all the stuff said on these forums.

 

[bribon77]

Cons: it's not good in itself: you have to configure other things like srp and others. translated. It is for experts.

 

[Andy Ful]

That is the point. Defender is OK, but it is like the normal antivirus with only default settings available. Microsoft sends to everybody the message: Average user, you are probably stupid. If not, then learn somewhere how to get to the advanced options.
@bribon77, correct the 'no compatibility' in Pros.

 

[bribon77]

That is the point. Defender is OK, but it is like the normal antivirus with only default settings available. Microsoft sends to everybody the message: Average user, you are probably stupid. If not, then learn somewhere how to get to the advanced options.
@bribon77, correct the 'no compatibility' in Pros.

corrected:

 

[CoherentCrayon]

No need. It's off whenever there's another AV installed.

Before I reinstalled Windows (Windows 10), I had a problem where Windows Defender randomly enabled itself when using 3rd party antivirus (both were running and the computer became unusable). Strangely, the issue did not happen with Avast or Norton, but it happened with all other antiviruses I tested. The issue went away mostly after updating Windows to 1709 and completely when formatting and reinstalling Windows

 

[Windows Defender Shill]

Real life experience for me while using it on normies computers has not been pleasant.

For myself personally or any other knowledgeable user it's is more than adequate

But the normie will simply not hesitate to click on a random email attachment, or download a "file" to allow you to read the email.