Windows Defender in Vista

[J.C.]

What, exactly, is Windows Defender in Vista? It is such a resource hog and seems to begin randomly and take forever to finish its scan. Do I really need it? I run some good antivirus software (Avast Pro.) If not, how do I disable it?Thanks in advance!

[shockersh]

Hi - Windows Defender is a built-in Spyware scanner. It was introduced with Windows Vista and continued on with Windows 7 however, you really don't need it being that Microsoft shipped a FREE Anti-Virus agent which you can install.

Here's the FREE Anti-Virus software:

http://www.groovypost.com/howto/news/microsoft-security-essentials-2-0-the-only-windows-antivirus-you-need/

And, then when you want to disable Windows Vista - Here's the article you can read for the step-by-step:

http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/vista/disable-windows-defender-for-microsoft-vista/

[J.C.]

Hi - Windows Defender is a built-in Spyware scanner. It was introduced with Windows Vista and continued on with Windows 7 however, you really don't need it being that Microsoft shipped a FREE Anti-Virus agent which you can install.

Here's the FREE Anti-Virus software:

http://www.groovypost.com/howto/news/microsoft-security-essentials-2-0-the-only-windows-antivirus-you-need/

And, then when you want to disable Windows Vista - Here's the article you can read for the step-by-step:

http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/vista/disable-windows-defender-for-microsoft-vista/

 

Okay, thanks for the info. That was very helpful! By the way, Avast! is also free and I find it is really non-intrusive as far as resources go. So I think I will stick with it rather than use the Microsoft one. Cheers!