back to article Microsoft Defender goes cross-platform for the masses

Microsoft is extending the Defender brand with a version aimed at families and individuals. "Defender" has been the company's name of choice for its anti-malware platform for years. Microsoft Defender for individuals, available for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers, is a cross-platform application, encompassing …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Please, let them kill off Norton and Symantec

    Let the actually competent minnows like Cylance move up the foodchain. Regulators be dammed, Defender should be marking them as what they have been for decades, overpriced malware.

    1. MiguelC Silver badge

      Re: Please, let them kill off Norton and Symantec

      Add McAffe to the lot, please

      I just took a look in task manger, it's currently running 18 processes and, between them, consuming 18% of CPU power - on a 9th gen. I7 ! (work laptop - no choice but to use it)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Please, let them kill off Norton and Symantec

        Just McAfee?

        My work laptop contains McAfee, Forcepoint and Crowdstrike software all running happily together.

        /s

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There is no way in hell..

    .. that I will allow anything made by Microsoft to come anywhere near my Mac. Not happening.

    Furthermore, maybe it's just me but I would question the logic and wisdom of getting a security product from the very company at the root of the very problem to start with.

    1. Mayday
      Gimp

      Re: There is no way in hell..

      I use Office. Works for me. Use draw.io as the Visio replacement. Much nicer. Even use that one on a PC when I need to.

      Using Bit Defender for anti-x which seems ok. Agree where I don’t think I’d fancy using MS Defender for that job. Brrrrrr

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: There is no way in hell..

        Been using Omnigraffle from before they even had a "Pro" version (which is IMHO very much a Microsoft naming standard, but at least it means something with Omnigraffle :).

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: There is no way in hell..

      To be fair to Microsoft (yeah, I know), Defender generally seems to do quite well in the AV-Test group roundup

      https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-10/april-2022/microsoft-defender-4.18-221213/

  3. DerekCurrie
    FAIL

    RUN AWAY AND DON'T LOOK BACK!

    Right now, at this moment, I'm attempting to help a very dear friend who foolishly installed this crapware from Microsoft onto his new M1 MacBook Pro. His MBP is BRICKED! And he's a Mac expert who runs a Mac user group.

    I can only assume that Microsoft is out of its mind, again. It served up dangerous code, unworthy of even being alpha code, but instead worse than the worst malware anyone can imagine.

    If I receive any useful information about this horrific situation, I'll post further.

    Just know: DO NOT INSTALL THIS GARBAGE!

    1. Extract

      Re: RUN AWAY AND DON'T LOOK BACK!

      I am the unlucky friend. Once I installed Defender, it started to scan my computer, a MacBook Pro M1 Pro, and everything froze up. I tried to reboot and reinstall the system, no go. Then I installed a system on an external drive and booted from, I removed the Microsoft Defender app from Applications and the launch agent from /Library/Launch Agents/ where the name contains Microsoft MDAV, then I could reboot and get my mac back. My OS is 12.4 Monterey.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: RUN AWAY AND DON'T LOOK BACK!

        Well, I simply repeat my statement - what on earth possessed you to pollute your Mac with this?

        I run 12.5 beta 4, and my machines have been purged of MS and Adobe malware which added considerabily to their stability.

        Have a look here, it may help: https://speakerdeck.com/patrickwardle/office-drama-on-macos

  4. DerekCurrie
    Go

    Further anti-malware I suggest, use and admire

    Background blahblah: I've been studying, working with and writing about Mac security since 2005. In that time, I've been able to work with a few anti-malware apps I admire:

    Intego VirusBarrier: Since it changed hands to new management, it has only improved. These days I have it running in real time. Set it to "Scan with low priority" and forget it. It never drags on my computer speed. I've always had a good rapport with their support.

    Malwarebytes: The free version is great for manual scanning. The browser add-on can be over-enthusiastic in its defensiveness, but is easily overridden when desired.

    ClamXAV: It's been greatly enhanced since its free days and works well with Macs. Its developer is terrific.

    I'll point out that these anti-malware apps have repeatedly proven to be problematic with Macs:

    Norton Lifelock - Now a spinoff of remarkably infamous Symantec. It's recent addition of Ethereum crypto mining software from which Norton takes a 15% cut has not enhanced the software's reputation.

    Avira/Avast/Jumpshot - They became infamous for tracking their users and selling the data. They were recently acquired by Norton Lifelock.

    MacKeeper used to be on the nightmare list. But so far, their new owners, Clario Tech, have made an honest effort to remove its infamy and make it worthwhile.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Further anti-malware I suggest, use and admire

      Thanks for that list, very helpful.

      I also run Lulu and BlockBlock from objective-see.org. Lulu's network monitor is simpler to show end users whqt is going on network wise on their machines (Wireshark tends to overwhelm them) and Blockblock watches for anything that wants to install itself permanently. It does mean I occasionally have to approve activity, but as it's not quite at Windows Vista levels I can live with it. Have a look at the site, they're very good tools.

      As for security, as we're about to set up a new company that really needs security, our risk analysis has steered us to wards MacOS on the desktop and Linux and FreeBSD in the DCs. The search is now on for networking gear we can trust, and that has proved much harder..

  5. Bartholomew
    Meh

    call me cynical

    Am I the only one who thinks of this is another telemetry like situation where M$ just wants more data about everything. What are people running (need to generate a checksum and send back to home base), what files are they accessing (need to generate a checksum and send back to home base). Then with a large enough database they can guess things that safe to run and which need to be analysed further either locally or uploaded to home base. But on the flip side they have a massive database of metadata harvested, the exact time when people do things what tools are used what datafiles are accessed and when people stop. Now I'm not saying that Microsoft plans to monetise this data (yet), but if anyone collects a large enough amount of metadata over a long enough period details emerge that are surprising. And that can be monetised.

    Maybe replace Microsoft with a dodgy bloke in an anorak called Simon who follows you around and is taking notes of (almost) EVERYTHING that you do with your computer 24/7.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can't remember the last time Norton detected any real problem on my W7 - although tit has given several almost catastrophic false alarms. It has a lot of pop-ups wanting me to subscribe to new products etc. For renewal they are prompting a £19.99 special offer for first year - followed by an automatic annual renewal at an unspecified price.

    Wasn't there a Norton "Ratner moment" a while ago about how ineffective it was?

    Time to uninstall Norton - and use a one-off Linux Mint VM clone with StartPage for any browsing outside my normal trusted sites.

  7. largefile

    Anyone who pays for security software on a personal computer is an idiot.

    Windows Defender works great on Windows and Android. I'm not a Mac person so I have no way to try it on MacOS or iOS. If you are a windows user and you aren't just using the free Defender you should have your wallet examined.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Anyone who pays for security software on a personal computer is an idiot.

      If you're ONLY using Defender and nothing else the examination should be of your head, though.

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