Am I secure enough

I'm running 8.1 and it gives you Microsoft Defender. Is that enough to keep me safe? I had Microsoft Essentials on my old computer but it now says it can't be used with 8.1.

Hi Barbee,

I would recommend using one of the many free anti virus programs like Avast free, Bitdefender Free, Avira Free etc. any one of them will give you much better protection that the built in Defender program that always does badly in tests. You can also use something like MalwareBytes Anti Malware free as a backup on demand scanner although I would recommend using version 1.75 as the new version 2 still has a few issues & kinks in it.

Many Internet service providers (ISP) give a free anti virus subscription to customers. This reduces the number of viruses on their networks.

Norton missed one virus which shutdown a few system features on my XP machine 5+ years ago. Norton's support group directed me to the URL to build a bootable virus tool, which removed the virus, but still left the system features broken. From this point, XP was repaired from the installation disks.

So are your can't lose files backed up and stored offsite or in a media safe?
Have you made recovery media, or have installation disks?

Don't want to scare you guys but :Symantec: Antivirus software is 'dead' and only catches 45% of cyberattacks

Barbee said:

I'm running 8.1 and it gives you Microsoft Defender. Is that enough to keep me safe? I had Microsoft Essentials on my old computer but it now says it can't be used with 8.1.

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I understood that Windows Defender is the same as MSE, but more secure and better protection. I think that even Microsoft admitted that MSE was not secure.

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