I wouldn't say it's garbage, it's just not the best. It's always caught everything before it has infected me. Although you are tempting me to explore newer options. I just like the way it's silent with little footprint.
Hmm i install Avast free today plus herdprotect. I got virus wtih Avira installed on other computer, funny they cant detect, mse detect it. It cant heal the computer, so i use avg and it's virus gone... i try herdprotect too today, seems cool. it uses 68 virus check cloud.
Did not stop a friend getting infected - Could not run Google Chrome, and a video would pop up saying to call a number to get it fixed. Fortunately he was not stupid enough to phone. He uninstalled Chrome and restored it and seems to work. He ran a complete scan which took about 4 hours, which found nothing. First thing I would have done is wipe program partition and start again. I always have data files on a separate partition, which seems obvious to me. Cannot understand why manufacturers/Microsoft do not do this as default. I ALWAYS wipe and reinstall if ANY doubt. Thanks to help from the experts here I always have the correct media available, and have got the whole job down to about 3 hours. I only use Defender and Malwarebytes which I find works very well. If in ANY doubt I always delete mail, and if something of a financial nature comes up I always visit the Bank. Do not trust phones either.
Or of course you could install once, set up and configure yours system nicely, then create a drive image with one of the many imaging solutions available, Acronis True Image Boot CD is good. Store the drive image on your data drive and simply boot with CD to restore in a few minutes if/when boot drive gets messed up.
I note that you are an Expert, and I tried Acronis once with no success. For a simple chap like me, who is retired and can afford the time, I feel more confident with a proper wipe. I use Killdisk - free edition, but have found a serious fault when re installing 7 prior to 10. The ethernet controller is not shown and 7 will not correct the problem. Running the fix on the Lenovo site (found by chance) I can connect with cable, but NOT wireless - it always rejects correct password. Then go to 10 still connected by cable,and 10 sorts out the wireless problem first time (using same correct password rejected by 7). Also installs printers and other bits correctly without being asked. I think 10 is brilliant. If anyone is stuck with this problem send me a PM and I can send link to the exe, filename starting h1r108ww, hope I am not breaking rules here, not intended.
Expert? No, not at all friend, oh you mean the MDL status things. IMO, that along with post count are as meaningless on this forum as they always have been on any forum. Post count/status stands for nothing, given time we all get our own ideas of who's posts we like and who we consider knowledgeable etc. Anyway... I may be mis-interpreting your post but you aren't re-installing W7 every time then upgrading to W10? You do realise that once you have activated W10 and the hardware ID is stored @ MS servers, your clean install (same edition/same hardware) will auto activate at first connection. As mentioned friend, I may be misunderstanding your post, apologies if so.
Many thanks - you are being far too modest. I did not realise that 10 stored the info, and I have been doing a clean install of 7 and update to 10 every time. Would be interesting to see if 10 accepted the ethernet controller first time. I was getting quite worried until I found the fix. I know that you must not change the hardware, but does that include USB devices like phone, webcam, external hard drives, camera card reader etc etc. I do not use all these at the same time, and have quite a few different external hard drives. I do not use the Cloud and feel happier with a few copies of what I think is important to me.
No, you're okay with that stuff. I'm not up to speed with exactly what affects Win 10 activation HWID freind, I'm sure I've seen it posted that only Motherboard and CPU affect it. But someone will post full info for you.
I didn't read all the reply but i'm amazed anyway. There is nothing to protect you (even the best anti virus) if you click or open a file. If you open something you are not supposed to, or install crap, well to bad for you. I' m surfing the Internet since the beginning (yep i'm an old fart) but a careful guy. Never ever caught a bad virus. Once in a while a little crap, but that's it. I've been using Windows defender since Windows 7 and this program do the job. Why spending so much money on Anti virus? Why installing a free Anti virus? For me nothing is free. If it's free (does not worth a lot) why not just using Windows defender, which is way better from my point of view. Lievre
Interesting comment. I have used a PC since 1983, and have never had a serious virus. Have occasionally installed crap like ASK Toolbar, my fault for not watching when installing stuff. The only thing that has caught me was on an email from a friend. I opened it and some advertising crap started coming up. Just restarted from Bootable Killdisk and installed Windows again, only way I feel confident. I think Defender on 10 is pretty good. I do not believe that software problems can be properly resolved, and have never tried. A wipe and re-install seems to cure everything for me.
tonowando got Me to start using Defender/MSE several years ago, combined with Malwarebytes and a little common sense, it's a unbeatable combo
Practically anything else, including no antivirus at all, is better than that cancer called Defender.