Microsoft Security Center vs Third Party, eg. McAfee

First thing is first you never want to have 2 real time protection modules on, they conflict and use too much resources, second I don't recommend windows defender I recommend Microsoft Security Essentials and here is why please note I did not make this video nor do I know the person who did http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60AmclMHcLs&fmt=18 as for Mcafee I personally do not like them, I feel they have degraded in the years and use too many resources for free I recommend MSE or Avria free for paid Kaspersky as long as your system can handle it. Not to go off topic but to stay fully secured you need a good firewall, hips or sandboxing program, a good anti virus, and on demand scanners, also you could always virtualize your system.

firstace wrote:  "But I'm wondering about dropping [a particular antivirus program]...  and going fully with the Windows Security Center"

Windows Security Center is simply a summary/notification feature.   For example, it will advise you which particular anti-virus program is currently running on your system... which could be Symantec/Norton, or McAfee, or avast, or avira, or whatever else you happen to be using.   Likewise, it will advise you which particular firewall you have running (e.g., Windows Firewall, Comodo Firewall, OnlineArmor firewall, or etc.)

The point is, the Center is simply an advisory mechanism... it does not, by itself, "supply" any particular anti-virus, anti-spyware, nor firewall.   YOU need make the choices and install the desired programs.

To clarify a bit further, MICROSOFT itself, either by inclusion in Windows or via a download, may offer some programs that supply these features... for example, Windows Firewall is included as part of Windows (XP SP2 / Vista).   And Microsoft Security Essentials is an optionally downloadable anti-virus program from Microsoft.   So perhaps you had intended to say you wanted to go with Microsoft products [rather than saying you want to go with the Windows Security Center]??

Just to add to what ky331 has already mentioned, Windows Defender is not part of XP as it is with Vista. It needs to be installed separately. Did you do that? Because of possible conflicts with McAfee's system guards, depending on your version of McAfee, it disables Windows Defender on Vista and on some XP systems. You can enable the Windows Firewall from the Security Center. However, if you discontinue subcribing to McAfee, you will still need an anti-virus program.

Please see these pages for

FREE SECURITY SOFTWARE  

FREE SECURITY SOFTWARE

As far as Windows Defender at that point, if it has not been running, you may need to update it, or uninstall/reinstall the latest version to activate it.

Thanks for all three commentaries to my query.  I've been out of pocket for several days, hence my late reply.  The commentaries have served to raise several questions and most likely,  confirm my lack of comptr knowledge.

1.  If I wish to continue McAfee, I should remove both the Windows Defender program which I must've added manually and the Malwarebytes-antispyware (free version); otherwise they interfere with each other?

2.  Running these together likely contribute to, or cause, my slow start-ups?

3.  Is there a way to have Malwarebytes placed simply in an inactive state (BTW, this is what I thought it was doing all along), so that I can access occasionally to "second-guess" my McAfee quick scans?   My Windows Security Center doesn't even acknowledge that Malwarebytes is present, and correctly points to the McAfee protection.

4.  One last  question, but probably not associated with the security issue:  Since my computer came with Win XP, SP2, should I have added SP3?  My assumption was it was an enhancement of SP2 with security upgrades among them.

1.  If I wish to continue McAfee, I should remove both the Windows Defender program which I must've added manually and the Malwarebytes-antispyware (free version); otherwise they interfere with each other? If you cannot update Windows Defender it is outdated, so yes, I would remove it. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (free version) does not run in realtime as Defender was programmed to do, so it does not interfere with McAfee. MBAM (FREE VERSION) is an on-demand scanner that you can run when needed (as long as you keep it updated). If you are concerned with conflicts with McAfee, you can always temporarily disable McAfee for the duration of the MBAM scan and/or updating.

2.  Running these together likely contribute to, or cause, my slow start-ups? IF Defender was trying to run it is possible that it was conflicting with McAfee.

3.  Is there a way to have Malwarebytes placed simply in an inactive state (BTW, this is what I thought it was doing all along), so that I can access occasionally to "second-guess" my McAfee quick scans? That is what it does.  My Windows Security Center doesn't even acknowledge that Malwarebytes is present, and correctly points to the McAfee protection.That is correct.  It will acknowledge your realtime  anti-virus scanner and firewall.

4.  One last  question, but probably not associated with the security issue:  Since my computer came with Win XP, SP2, should I have added SP3?  My assumption was it was an enhancement of SP2 with security upgrades among them. Yes, please add SP3 and any other updates that you are missing. Visit Microsoft Update: Make sure that you have all the Critical Updates recommended for your operating system, Office, and IE. The first defense against infection is a properly patched OS from Microsoft Update at update.microsoft.com. More info HERE.

So, can I run Defender and Essentials simultaneously? I'm having a torrid time with my Dell Inspiron 1545 (only 4 weeks old) which is freezing and now shutting down after a few minutes, even in Safe Mode. I'm going to call the helpline on Monday before attempting a Vista reinstall using the supplied recovery disk. I had been running Kaspersky 2010 but, convinced that this was the culprit, I dumped it using the manufacturer's removal tool. This seemed to stop the involuntary shutdowns but now they've started again (every 5 minutes or so). Incidentally, I had similar problems with a 6 month old 1545 that my son was using normally until last week and in the end, I had to reinstall Vista. Today, I accepted an invitation to install 3 important updates for Vists and the freezing started again on the older pc. I removed the new updates and now it seems to be working okay.

Should I remove Defender completely and if so, how?

Thanks

To answer your question, there is no need to run both MSE and Defender, and may be one reason to consider why you are having problems.Windows Defender is part of Vista so you cannot remove it. However, installing MSE in Vista & Win7 is supposed to disable Defender. If not, disable it manually.  Installing MSE on WinXP  systems should remove Defender. If not, uninstall it yourself.

Good Info that  you have provided and i'll definitely check out the web sites you suggested - thanks again.