Is Win 10 Built-in Security Enough?

[box o rocks]

Is Defender (I think it's called) good enough to prevent malware, ransomware, zero-day attacks, etc. Or do I need something running on top of that? And if so, what about conflicts between the two programs?

 

[feelinfroggy777]

As long as you are smart about how you operate on the web, then Defender is good enough. If you are downloading programs from strange websites or clicking links from unknown emails, then it wont be enough. I have found most security software does more harm than good by blocking good programs and slowing down your system.

I do like malwarebytes. I run windows defender and the free version of malwarebytes. I run a scan on malwarebytes every so often as it can find malware that defender may not be able to see and it not intrusive on your system.

 

[geofelt]

As above^^^

Defender does a decent job if blocking known viruses.
It is updated via normal windows updates.

More sophisticated anti virus systems try to find "in the wild" viruses.
They are new viruses that nobody has encountered yet.
Such antivirus apps tend to be more intrusive and resource consuming.

On occasion I run the free edition of malwarebytes.
Be careful, they want to sell you a paid continuous monitoring version.
That just adds an extra level of overhead which you may not need.

If you are on windows 10, take the time to visit privacy settings,
There are perhaps a dozen default settings you should turn off.

 

[box o rocks]

If you are on windows 10, take the time to visit privacy settings,
There are perhaps a dozen default settings you should turn off.

Thanks for that privacy reminder. I had forgot to do that.

 

[box o rocks]

As long as you are smart about how you operate on the web, then Defender is good enough. If you are downloading programs from strange websites or clicking links from unknown emails, then it wont be enough. I have found most security software does more harm than good by blocking good programs and slowing down your system.

I do like malwarebytes. I run windows defender and the free version of malwarebytes. I run a scan on malwarebytes every so often as it can find malware that defender may not be able to see and it not intrusive on your system.

I installed Malwarebytes a couple months ago, but was thinking of getting rid of it. Maybe I won't. I wish they'd let me set my own auto scan time. But it is only available with the subscription.