Is Windows Defender any good?

Answer by  Mark94 (127)

Windows defender is typically not the first choice of security professionals. You should consider browsing a site which has qualified experts giving you their recommendations on which products to use in many situations. There are a number of free security tools which will be more effective against viruses and spyware than Windows Defender.

Answer by  NarenMukherjee (308)

I have found Windows Defender is not very good. It doesn't seem to find much of anything that several other programs do.

Answer by  Goldie (121)

I don't care for it personally. I don't really trust it either. I would stick to Norton or McAffee. These products are time tested and are industry leaders.

Answer by  vijayparttimejob (2254)

It was a great, for first few months it was in Beta. Since then, however, it has been rendered pretty much useless. If you have Windows XP, I would suggest removing it in favor of something better. It does have some nice tools for checking the processes running on your system, however it can be a resource hog.

Answer by  anbu (5968)

The original program, GIANT AntiSpyware, was an excellent application. However, following its being acquired by MS, and subsequently substantially altered, it has become of dubious value.

Answer by  mahes (32209)

I think it's pretty decent. Since it's free, give it a try and find out. It caught a virus (not spyware, ) on my computer a while back.