Solved Do you still need third-party antivirus on your Windows PC?

I don't use any antivirus. I haven't done so in over 10-15 years.
Do people still see threats these days? Maybe I'm just a careful person.

I do regular scheduled system backups using three different applications though.

allan said:

Windows Defender gets excellent annual ratings from AV Test and other reliable independent sources. Having said that, I use Bitdefender.

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I completely agree with you. Windows Defender might be made of gold for all I know, but I don’t trust it. …and that’s why -> Bitdefender Total Security protects my PC.

idgat said:

I prefer to trust the Russians more than the Americans ....

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Being serious, NSA/GCHQ are far more trustworthy using the Windows backdoors they exploit in collusion with Microsoft

PhilB said:

This IS a troll, right?

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No, you have a sense of humour failure

starchase said:

Actually I'm thinking the statement is a parody of Trump's critique of his propensity to believe Putin over the assessments of his own Intelligence services. The statement "I prefer to trust the Russians more than the Americans" is a direct inference of Trump's reply during a question from the Press.

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So the unsaid question here is, What does the KGB have on Trump (on tape?)

Steve C said:

No, you have a sense of humour failure

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Guilty as charged, Your Honor.

yastil said:

I completely agree with you. Windows Defender might be made of gold for all I know, but I don’t trust it. …and that’s why -> Bitdefender Total Security protects my PC.

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It's not that I don't trust Defender. I use Defender because I think it is better.

Stigg said:

I don't use any antivirus. I haven't done so in over 10-15 years.
Do people still see threats these days? Maybe I'm just a careful person.

I do regular scheduled system backups using three different applications though.

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I also removed Windows Defender and disabled all CPU mitigations; my PC is flying, everything opens super fast. You know, disabling Firefox's mitigations also made a difference. Nowadays, there's excessive protection everywhere, it's crazy; soon they'll create firewalls for people's keyboards and mice.

PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> Get-ProcessMitigation -System

ProcessName : System
Source : System Defaults
Id : 0

DEP:
Enable : NOTSET
EmulateAtlThunks : OFF
Override DEP : False

ASLR:
BottomUp : OFF
Override BottomUp : False
ForceRelocateImages : OFF
RequireInfo : OFF
Override ForceRelocate : False
HighEntropy : OFF
Override High Entropy : False

StrictHandle:
Enable : NOTSET
Override StrictHandle : False

System Call:
DisableWin32kSystemCalls : OFF
Audit : NOTSET
Override SystemCall : False
DisableFsctlSystemCalls : NOTSET
AuditFsctlSystemCalls : NOTSET
Override FsctlSystemCall : False

ExtensionPoint:
DisableExtensionPoints : OFF
Override ExtensionPoint : False

DynamicCode:
BlockDynamicCode : OFF
AllowThreadsToOptOut : NOTSET
Audit : NOTSET
Override DynamicCode : False

CFG:
Enable : NOTSET
SuppressExports : OFF
Override CFG : False
StrictControlFlowGuard : NOTSET
Override StrictCFG : False

BinarySignature:
MicrosoftSignedOnly : OFF
AllowStoreSignedBinaries : OFF
EnforceModuleDependencySigning : OFF
AuditMicrosoftSignedOnly : NOTSET
AuditStoreSigned : OFF
AuditEnforceModuleDependencySigning: NOTSET
Override MicrosoftSignedOnly : False
Override DependencySigning : False

FontDisable:
DisableNonSystemFonts : OFF
Audit : NOTSET
Override FontDisable : False

ImageLoad:
BlockRemoteImageLoads : OFF
AuditRemoteImageLoads : OFF
Override BlockRemoteImages : False
BlockLowLabelImageLoads : OFF
AuditLowLabelImageLoads : OFF
Override BlockLowLabel : False
PreferSystem32 : OFF
AuditPreferSystem32 : OFF
Override PreferSystem32 : False

Payload:
EnableExportAddressFilter : NOTSET
AuditEnableExportAddressFilter : NOTSET
Override ExportAddressFilter : False
EnableExportAddressFilterPlus : NOTSET
AuditEnableExportAddressFilterPlus : NOTSET
Override ExportAddressFilterPlus : False
EAFModules : {}
EnableImportAddressFilter : NOTSET
AuditEnableImportAddressFilter : NOTSET
Override ImportAddressFilter : False
EnableRopStackPivot : NOTSET
AuditEnableRopStackPivot : NOTSET
Override EnableRopStackPivot : False
EnableRopCallerCheck : NOTSET
AuditEnableRopCallerCheck : NOTSET
Override EnableRopCallerCheck : False
EnableRopSimExec : NOTSET
AuditEnableRopSimExec : NOTSET
Override EnableRopSimExec : False

SEHOP:
Enable : NOTSET
TelemetryOnly : OFF
Audit : NOTSET
Override SEHOP : False

Heap:
TerminateOnError : OFF
Override HEAP : False

Child Process:
DisallowChildProcessCreation : NOTSET
Audit : NOTSET
Override ChildProcess : False

User Shadow Stack:
UserShadowStack : OFF
UserShadowStackStrictMode : OFF
AuditUserShadowStack : OFF
Override UserShadowStack : False

I also use Bitedefender Total Security.
Why...

Because BD does what I want. MS WD does what MS wants.

Greybeard70 said:

Windows defender and Malwarebytes is all I use. You (the user) are the best defense.

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Ditto.