Denfender provides excellent protection from spyware and unwanted software for your home computer. Defender is Microsoft's anti-spyware answer to various pranksters, hackers and thieves who are exploiting holes in Microsoft's other programs to perform inappropriate functions on your computer. As Microsoft has a vested interest in protecting its software, reputation and customers, they have done a great job with Defender and the best part is that Defender is provided to registered Microsoft customers free of charge.
Microsoft defines spyware as:
"The term spyware (and other unwanted software) refers to a wide range of programs designed to take partial control of a computer without the consent of the owner or a legitimate user. Spyware uses this control to generate unsolicited pop-up advertising on a computer, track Web-browsing habits for marketing purposes, or change the configuration of a computer."
In the worst case spyware, by monitoring your computer and key strokes, can track credit card numbers and other personal information. But more common symptoms of spyware are far more benign and include:
* Unwanted pop-ups
* Reduced system performance
* Slow Internet browsing
* Generally unhealthy computing
Regardless of whether you are seeking protection from the worst case scenario or more common issues, spyware protection or anti-spyware is a good idea for ALL computer users. And Microsoft Defender is a great solution for spyware protection. First and foremost its FREE. Second, since Microsoft is most familiar with the workings of its own operating system, it stands to reason that Microsoft should be able to build a better security solution than anyone else. Lastly Microsoft has a vested interest in making sure Defender works well for obvious reasons.
Defender's usability is quite good. It downloads and installs easily (at least over a high speed connection, I have not tried dial-up). Defender's UI while not great, is acceptable and fairly intuitive. Most importantly Defender does a thorough job of scanning your system and effectively removes unwanted spyware and related software from your computer. One of the nicest things about Defender is that it will not slow your computer down! I and many have commented that the biggest problem with popular security solutions from folks like Norton and McAfee is that they can bring your system performance to a grinding halt. This is not the case with the Defender security solution.
Defender also has plenty of good configuration options. Defender can be scheduled to receive automatic definition updates so it can recognize the latest spyware. Likewise Defender can be scheduled to automatically scanned your system at regular intervals. Finally most people recommend leaving Defender on all the time so it monitor your system in real-time and catch unwanted software before it installs on your computer.
Microsoft Defender is available to support:
* Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later
* Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 or later
Lastly it should be noted that spyware protection is NOT the same as virus protection. Those seeking protection from computer viruses should use Defender in combination with anti-spyware software.
I regularly surf the web from my home computer and choose not to avoid every other website encountered. As a result good spyware protection is a must. I have been using Defender now on my home computer for several months and have not had a single problem. As a result, I highly recommend Defender as a very good solution to spyware.
3 Reviews
