Get Over Windows Defender Already, AV Vendors!

​From That’s It. I’ve Had Enough!:

Users of Windows 10 have been complaining that the system is changing settings, uninstalling user-installed apps, and replacing them with standard Microsoft ones.

A similar thing’s been happening with security products.

When you upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft automatically and without any warning deactivates all ‘incompatible’ security software and in its place installs… you guessed it — its own Defender antivirus. But what did it expect when independent developers were given all of one week before the release of the new version of the OS to make their software compatible? Even if software did manage to be compatible according to the initial check before the upgrade, weird things tended to happen and Defender would still take over.

And then the piece goes on to talk about how Microsoft is being anti-competitive and Kaspersky is going to take this up with official government bodies in the EU and Russia.

If we’re simply talking about Anti-Virus here, I don’t know that Kaspersky, or anyone else for that matter, is doing anything that much better than anyone else. The technology has inherent limits and, generally speaking, efficacy comes down to how quickly signatures are generated and deployed.

We know how effective AV is in general. It’s why Check Point and numerous other vendors, including Kaspersky, offer different solutions that address threats AV cannot by itself. This is where security software vendors should be focusing their efforts. Stop fighting with Microsoft over Windows Defender.

Disclaimer: My blog, my personal opinions. I’m sure you knew that.

Originally published at phoneboy.org on November 19, 2016.