onecare or defender

[Normzin]

hi guyz(=)

i have onecare

defender wont override it.

Which do i chuz? plz.

[Tarq57]

You'd have to make a choice based on what you want. If you have onecare, it's a suite of applications including antivirus, antispyware, tuneup etc that you have to pay for. (If you've already paid for it, and it works for you, might as well keep it.)

Windows Defender is a free antispyware available to any XP/Vista user running genuine windows, free of charge. As you've noticed, it's not compatible with onecare. (I think onecare's AS module is actually a version of Defender, anyway.)

Personally, I'd go for neither, but my wants and likes are almost certainly different to yours - concerning which it may be advisable to say a little something. The advice you get generally is somewhat dependent on the info you give, though nobody can tell you which security application to choose. That's a choice you need to make yourself. Another user can provide advice on what works for them, and why they like it/find it effective etc.

Hope I'm not treading on any toes, by making my second post the first answer to this question. If so, please feel free to say.

[SenutyEnool]

Why would anyone object to you answering a question? Oh, yeah, that's right, because you're a Kiwi!!!

Nah, just pulling your leg.

One thing though, you mentioned that you would choose neither of the programs. Mind elaborating why? Reason I ask, is because if someone else were to read this thread it might be advantageous for them to gather more information about different anti mal/virii programs and make an informed decision that way.

To keep the ball rolling, I was an advocate for Pc-Cillin (now just called TMIS) for years, mainly because I was able to get it free from work and it was fairly easy to use and was a complete bundle of an anti mal/virii and firewall program, however, over the last 2 years this program has just bloated out to the max and it used to use up near on 1/3 of RAM on my system and ran 5/6 (can't remember which) services to keep it 'running' which I wasn't happy about.

After reading the suggestions and remarks on this forum, I also have switched over to Avast even though it's not the *most* reliable in my opinion.

Why do I think this? Quite simply, had a Trojan for some time which although Avast identified it, it would/could not clean it. (Win32Proj... or something). Seems this little bugger was in one of my restore points and couldn't be cleaned.... or so I thought. After getting sick of it, uninstalled Avast, got a free trial for Kaspersky and cleaned it up first go.

Now, although Kaspersky cleaned it, it again, like TMIS is a resource hog and needs a large learning curve to get it up and running properly. Needless to say, after having Kaspersky for 8 days and getting sick of having to readjust settings to make it compatible to what I wanted, I've gone back to Avast, which is simple and straightforward without it having to 'learn' your preferences.

Just my little diatribe..

Cheers :)

[Tarq57]

One thing though, you mentioned that you would choose neither of the programs. Mind elaborating why? Reason I ask, is because if someone else were to read this thread it might be advantageous for them to gather more information about different anti mal/virii programs and make an informed decision that way

The short answer concerning Defender is that I'm biased, based on experience long ago, and current opinions read (mainly) at other forums.

The short answer concerning Onecare is also bias, this based on my inherent dislike of suites, and also of opinions read some time ago, although apparently the application has improved considerably, its reported efficacy is not sufficient for me to part with $ for it, especially when there are excellent free alternatives.

The slightly longer answer concerning Defender is that I used its predecessor years ago. I used to get malware all too often. Three or four significant adventures. I found that the MS offering never alerted to it, yet other applications would. Some of those other applications were also able to clean it.

Reviews I've read since then basically indicate that Defender is OK, but without great detection/cleaning ability, and that there are better. I keep those "better"ones available in case of another "adventure", but prefer prevention to cure, and so find a combo of 2 way firewall, AV, and behaviour blocker, plus a few immunities seem to be doing the job rather well.

There is no slightly longer answer concerning Onecare. Suites are entirely appropriate for those who want them. If I wanted to purchase a suite, it would probably be from a different vendor, say, Kaspersky, or Avira.

Why do I think this? Quite simply, had a Trojan for some time which although Avast identified it, it would/could not clean it. (Win32Proj... or something). Seems this little bugger was in one of my restore points and couldn't be cleaned.... or so I thought. After getting sick of it, uninstalled Avast, got a free trial for Kaspersky and cleaned it up first go.

I found in the past that the AV's I've used, including AVG and Norton, were not good with Trojans, probably because of the many places and ways the little bu@@ers install themselves to, and that more specialist tools were, at times, needed.

For a genuine detection in a restore point, switching off system restore, rebooting, then switching it back on again is an easy way to remove them, provided the 'pooter is running well/malware has been fully cleaned.