The answer’s pretty simple. If your use is social networks (facebook and the like) with occasional downloads…yes, most likely IF you remove the Java Plugin. Don’t use it. Google and Mozilla are going over to HTML5, and hopefully the net will get there ASAP. The only problem is advertisers, and money IS the juice of the net.
If you’re involved with downloading torrent related stuff…nope. You’ll need more mojo…Bitdefender is currently (and for the past couple of years) rated best. Good news: It’s now at half price, so whether you’re currently on W10 or not…well, make your own decision. But get rid of the Java Plugin, NO MATTER WHAT. If you don’t add Bitdefender, add Malwarebytes free. Yeah, the free AVs might be good, so why do their pop-ups tell you their paid for versions are better? That make you feel good?
No matter what, here’s how to configure WD correctly.
Why is WD better now than before? Well, it boils down to Cloud Protection’s goal to stop the malware before it hits your ports because it uses signature based reporting. Well…that isn’t perfect. WD also has tamper protection to prevent registry changes and app settings.
“New features:
- Windows Defender in Windows 10 has improved tamper protection, registry and folder modification tampering, and real-time protection service hardening
- It offers anti-malware cleaning in the Windows Recovery Environment
- In Windows 10, Microsoft implemented a new technology that allows Windows Defender to work closely with User Account Control (UAC) requests
- Windows 10 introduces new Secure Event Tracing for Windows which a security application that is running as a Protected Process such as Windows Defender can consume
- Windows Defender in Windows 10 has improved remediation, reporting, and malware detection capabilities
- Anti-malware Scanning Interface supports the notion of a session so that security products, such as Windows Defender, can correlate different scan requests.” – TheWindowsClub
There’s nothing like common sense, but the same common sense should tell you to get rid of the Java Plugin, and I don’t really care if it makes sites look like crap, or if you can’t comment on some earthshaking nothing.
So, stupid MS doesn’t add Windows Defender (WD) to your context menus. I think that’s because they didn’t want to compete with security software companies…and that doesn’t make me happy, but WD is better now than in the past when it was dead last in security software. Supposedly. I haven’t seen any recent testing results, though. So here’s how to get ‘Scan with WD’ on your context menu. The Windows Club also has a free “Ultimate Tweaker” for W10. You can read about it here and decide if you want it or not. The download link is at the bottom of the page.
Sources:
1. Links in the text.
2. http://www.pcpitstop.com/spycheck/safesurfing.asp
3. https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/tips/ST04-003