Windows Defender/AVG

[gehenna]

Could I ask the experts what they think of using Windows Defender and / or AVG to protect their laptops.

Thanks ........

[green granite]

I use Windows Defender and Avast and Super Anti Spyware all running at the sane time and it doesn't cause any problems, nor do I have any viruses either. Usually it's Avast that sticks it's oar in to block anything nasty.

[mixture]

AV-Comparatives - Independent Tests of Anti-Virus Software - Welcome to AV-Comparatives.org (http://www.av-comparatives.org/)


and

Virus Bulletin : VB100 award - latest comparative (http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index)



Both quite well respected within the industry as independent as unbiased test methodologies.

[Flying Serpent]

I used Avast and windows defender for a couple of years but a few weeks ago Avast buggered up my laptop while trying to perform an auto update. I eventually managed to perform a system restore and had to remove Avast. Thought I'd try Microsoft Security Essentials instead after reading good things about it. It has inbuilt AV, anti spyware and malicious sofware removal and I have to say I'm impressed so far. Light on resources and the laptop is running faster.

[Booglebox]

My advice from personal experience is the following:

- Don't use Windows XP if you can possibly avoid it, unless you do next to nothing with your computer. If you don't like the naff shiny bits in windows 7, turn them off.

- Only run one malware defeating product, and if you must use more than one preferably have them from the same vendor, otherwise they tend to overlap and fight each other, slowing you down massively.

- I personally use Windows 7 with Microsoft Security Essentials and the default Windows firewall, and I deployed it on 20 computers at work (some Vista, most 7), and we (and I) have had zero virus-related problems since I did that.

[Aerouk]

Can't go wrong with AVG to be honest.

[mixture]

Booglebox,

Don't use Windows XP if you can possibly avoid it, unless you do next to nothing with your computer.

I'm sorry but I'm going to bite on that one.

Please tell us. Where do you get your computing "expertise" from ? :ugh:

[P.Pilcher]

Y'know mixture, as one who has fought valiantly to retain XP on his machines and successfully evaded the attempts of Microsoft to force him to use Vista and now Win 7 so far along with many others, I am beginning to detect the faint smell of troll-ism!

P.P.

[mixture]

Vista is simply a synonym for a brown substance dogs leave on the street.

7 is a great improvment, but many will continue to use XP, especially within corporate fleets and embedded applications.

[P.Pilcher]

Oh - are you also referring to the days when bird "guano" was transported in leaky cargo sailing ships and had to be "Stored High In Transit" . If it wasn't, it would get wet, decompose and generate methane in the hold so that when a sailor took his lighted candle down in the hold to check the freight......... BOOM!!

(How we have progressed in aviation.)

P.P.

Edited to say: The initials were stamped on every sack of Guano transported in this way.

[Booglebox]

Mixture, you must agree when I say that for the average consumer (such as one that would enquire about AV products), XP has much more potential for things to go wrong than 7.

[Keef]

Agree. XP was rock solid for me. Did the job well, certainly better than Vista.

Then along came Win 7...

[jimtherev]

'7 on this machine; XP on that used by MrsJim & two lappies. '7 is rock solid for 14 months now (well, I did have a couple of BSOD's when plugging in a faulty USB stick, but no damage done.) I tend - maybe foolishly - to load lots of 'stuff' on this machine which remains stable; MrsJ just uses Office and has had all sorts of probs... but that may just be her :). No, to be fair, I've had quite a number of XP crashes in me time.

All of which rambling could be abbreviated to say, I think that with W7, M$ have got it right this time... but no, I'm not converting the other machines; I'm too tight.

[M.Mouse]

If you go for the lower end Win 7 - then it is certainly no better than simply sticking with XP.

Not sure what you mean by 'lower end' but I disagree completely.

[parabellum]

In their Business/Industry range of computers Dell, were, for quite a time, offering a "downgrade" to XP from Vista for their corporate customers.

Have XP(SP3) on four machines and so far, fingers crossed, no problems that were not finger trouble.

My wife has Vista on her laptop but I hate it. Why can't I save a programme in Programme Files if I want to? It says, "You don't have authority etc", "Would you like to save it in (wife's File by her Name)?"
No passwords or administrator details have been set so why can't I save in Prog. Files please?

[M.Mouse]

Vista is a dreadful OS. Interestingly, underneath Windows 7 is Vista except a version that has been made to work how Vista should have worked! Also the front end (what the user interfaces with) is much simplified and more intuitive.

XP is still a very good OS but without question W7 is much better overall.

[Booglebox]

I think, as with quite a few tech-related debates, the answer is that it depends what you're using it for.

My dad has used XP for ages (same installation) and it's been absolutely fine. But he uses Firefox, Word, Skype, and that is about it. He religiously does antivirus and Windows updates, uninstalls unneeded software etc.

M.Mouse is right - 7 has similar workings to Vista. However, the core of Vista is actually not bad, and I used / administered it for a year in a corporate environment. Its main problems is that it is extremely disk I/O heavy which kills slow laptop drives, much more RAM intensive (7 is almost as bad but people are used to it now, and prices have caught up), and its networking stack was completely written and thus immature. But, inherently, it's not all that bad, and if you have a decent machine it is probably more reliable than XP, if more annoying and possibly slower to use. Graphically, it is horrible (the default blue green background makes me feel seasick). But it has a bunch of improvements that are actually excellent and very useful.

For the average user I believe that XP is a minefield. I have to use it sometimes and I (somewhat experienced) have to be very careful not to put a foot wrong and break it. If you are doing anything more than very basic stuff with it, or if you are the type to randomly install cool stuff, and if you are not careful / very experienced, you WILL have problems with it. Also, security updates stop in a couple of years which will be fun for you.

7 is Vista with pretty much all the bugbears fixed, and I have had basically zero problems with it with extensive, heavy usage. My computer at work that runs 20 complicated, resource-intensive and buggy things simultaneously all day every day, only has to be restarted once a month for security updates. Excellent OS.

[AnthonyGA]

Vista, Windows 7, XP, Windows NT, etc., all proceed from the same code base, which is that of the original Windows NT (a very well-written operating system). So it's essentially the same OS under the hood, and has been ever since NT came out. The older Windows 9x and its ilk were a completely different code base that evolved in haphazard fashion from Windows 3.x, and they were garbage.

I haven't seen any particular advantage to Windows 7, and it's a lot slower than XP. I wish I had a hundred XP installation CDs, since it now seems to be impossible to find in stores. As every system administrator knows, never, ever "upgrade" something that isn't broken.

[oldbeefer]

Amazon.co.uk: windows'xp: Software (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=windows%27xp&tag=googhydr-21&index=software&hvadid=7144197153&ref=pd_sl_1vqodz7xeq_b)

[Mike-Bracknell]

Vista, Windows 7, XP, Windows NT, etc., all proceed from the same code base, which is that of the original Windows NT (a very well-written operating system). So it's essentially the same OS under the hood, and has been ever since NT came out. The older Windows 9x and its ilk were a completely different code base that evolved in haphazard fashion from Windows 3.x, and they were garbage.

I haven't seen any particular advantage to Windows 7, and it's a lot slower than XP. I wish I had a hundred XP installation CDs, since it now seems to be impossible to find in stores. As every system administrator knows, never, ever "upgrade" something that isn't broken.

Whilst reasonably accurate, that's a bit of a broad brushstroke there Anthony. I'd refine it slightly by pointing out that the entire network stack has been rewritten for Vista and 7, and in certain circumstances this provides VERY big performance advantages.

[Booglebox]

Must not feed trolls... MUST not feed trolls... *gnashes teeth*