I used Defender when it was still beta and I kind of miss the beta version. It seemed to do more back then. In any event I just leave it on as my background trojan detector and run secondary scans with Spybot and AVG anti-spyware every once in awhile.

quail

I have been running Vista since May of this year when I bought a new notebook. It came with NIS 2007 and it gave me nothing but trouble. Got rid of that and installed Windows Live OneCare which has an enhanced version of Defender. I also Run A Squared Free and SUPERAntispyware free. While WLOC has everything that one would want in a security suite, some people want more flexibility and OneCare doesn't have that. It just gets on and does it's thing. I can honestly say that I have never had a problem with Defender and I have been using it in one form or another since it came out. Why would you want to disable it anyway? It does what it is supposed to do, but as I said before some people want extra flexibility and tinker around which in my opinion is a waste of time. Oh well, to each his own. J.B.

Jaydee

@oldredhat

agree, but the article misleads you that a) you don't need it and b) you should only use one kind of anti-malware.

one can have two, at least IMHO, as one is active and the other passive (run it when you need a second opinion like for S&D).

BlackBeard

I disabled Defender because I simply don't want it to run at startup and in the background when I work.

I use NOD32, my router's SPI firewall, clean backup images of my drives, and common sense.

Orien

Defender is actually pretty effective.

cavalierex

>

Even if you disable Defender in Vista, startup programmes that require Administrative access are still blocked. UAC blocks registry writes, system file access, etc. Defender is made in Vista just to stop the moron from clicking "Allow" when UAC asks them to give Admin Privileges to a Virus.

m9

Regardless, it's not the brightest thing in the world to depend on one lonely anti-spyware program to handle all of your security needs. As a part of a committee of security software, windows defender does it's job fair enough (at least it doesn't do it poor enough to warrant replacement), is free, comes packaged with the os (vista) and is very quiet compared to a number of security apps. It doesn't interfere with ad-aware or any other anti-spyware, so I don't see why you'd need to turn it off, or even really have a reason to complain about it.

oldredhat

This was based off of Giant Anti-Spyware. At the time the best in the category. The catch was you had to pay for it. Then MS buys it and hands it out for free. It found things my other programs missed (search and destroy, ad aware) With it as part of the OS it updates with windows update. I'd scarcely call it garbage. The only questionable thing it does is whitelists a lot of MS stuff. Not really an issue unless you're paranoid.
If you are looking for pure garbage may I recommend Norton Security Suite. The contrast is shocking. A miserable program that randomly causes issues with other software.

This is one of the cases where MS is among the best. (having the money to purchase someone who's done the work for you helps)

ecmuller

how is it garbage? it checks for new startup programs, ie setting changes, and other things that annoying programs tend to do. it also checks for spyware and potentially unwanted programs. you can also see a list of all programs running, and disable them and mark them to never be allowed to run again (like groove, for instance). it's quite a good tool.

natenovs

ok name better anti malware apps GO!

Gonzie

@BlackBeard: "Why would anyone disable a security tool?" Well perhaps because, in this case, the "security tool" is garbage?

YachiraG

Why would anyone disable a security tool? I have Vista and the only security tools I use are Defender, avast, and Windows firewall. Almost a year now and no malwares. Just keep your signatures updated and avoid the obvious "click me to protect your PC" thingie.

BlackBeard

Sorry for the moan, but this doesn't seem like much of a lifehack. If you want to do it, you can find out very easily through Google. If you don't know that you want to do it, this article isn't about to convince you.

And finally, it would only take a few minutes of searching before a Windows user would find that option.

r3m0t

Does Defender defend against M$ spyware?

I find my Sygate firewall catches various Windows programs like Windows Explorer trying to access the Internet, for what? It only happened when I had a large number of mp3's on the hard drive from ripping my CD's. Coincidence? Maybe.

Capone

I loved Windows anti-spyware, now for defender it is a piece of garbage. When I had it, it created the most annoying popups and slowed down the whole machine. I took it off entirely. It seems Microsoft takes 1 step forward and 9 steps back year after year. Don't get me wrong I am a windows/linux user but I still get frustrated with how they do things.

GeorgiaBoot

I have no need for it at all so why would I want to have something constantly running in the background using up resources? I use firefox with noscript and I get no spyware at all. None. Never. And I don't just go to "safe" sites either.

Mensur

I myself will definatly turn it off. It is such an annoying program. I've already got some of the best defense against spyware, viruses, malware, etc. So why would I need Microsoft to take up more space on my memory? Besides, that little red shield that appears on the taskbar gets really annoying, especially those pop-ups (callout bubbles). Thanks Lifehacker!

11hawkinst