Browser security.

[donkpow]

I was just reading an article posed for me by Digital Trends. In it, they were touting Windows Defender for Chrome. With the metric presented for comparison, Chrome security accomplished defense 87% efficacy and the Windows Defender extension accomplished 99% efficacy. I downloaded it and am running it right now. It runs side by side with whatever Chrome wants to run.

[maddmaxx ★]

Interesting.  I use the desktop for more serious work and to store my music and occasional trips to more benign places like this.  I use the chromebook for shopping, internet exploring and for visiting more risky places.  Chromebooks seem to be pretty secure because of the inability to load a program.  I run very few apps so the list is very short and easily checked.  I don't think windows defender is going to run on the Chromebook.

[donkpow]

The article focused on problems from sites you visit with the browser. So i'm not a techie but we are not talking about downloading programs and the like.

[maddmaxx ★]

1 minute ago, donkpow said:

The article focused on problems from sites you visit with the browser. So i'm not a techie but we are not talking about downloading programs and the like.

That was my lead in to it won't work in a chromebook

[donkpow]

Okay, I don't know about Chromebook. Don't cookies, history, and temporary files get downloaded to Chromebook?

[maddmaxx ★]

38 minutes ago, donkpow said:

Okay, I don't know about Chromebook. Don't cookies, history, and temporary files get downloaded to Chromebook?

Yes but defender won't run in Chrome OS.  The chromebook is not windows but Chrome OS, similar to Chrome for windows but exclusive to chromebooks.

[donkpow]

13 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

Yes but defender won't run in Chrome OS.  The chromebook is not windows but Chrome OS, similar to Chrome for windows but exclusive to chromebooks.

Oh, I see.

[MickinMD ★]

Back in 2010, USA Today included me in an article on using the best free anti-virus software, look for me under the section "Homework Required:"

https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2010-09-22-antivirus22_CV_N.htm

Back then, I used layers of free Anti-Virus stuff on my laptop, beginning with Avira Free Anti-Virus.

To evaluate one AV vs another, I've seen a lot of goofy results from respected sources like PC Magazine because they only looked at something like 100 viruses. Others clearly had ties to one AV company or another and couldn't be trusted.

I like av-comparatives.org. It's independent and instead of 100 or so virus tests they do tens to hundreds of thousands: https://www.av-comparatives.org/

They also look at viruses detected AND eliminated, heuristics (ability to stop new viruses), online and offline performance, false positives, and more.

I hadn't looked in detail since 2015, so I was surprised to see that Windows Defender ("Microsoft" in the data below) did have first-class results now - it did NOT back then - and is worth using, though I still prefer Avira among the free stuff both because of strong results and it doesn't slow your computer down like some others do.  Note that the "Avira" listed below is the pay-for version, though the free version gives almost identical results according to past published studies. Note also that in Avira, under Settings, then both System Scanner and Real Time Protection there are Scan/Heuristic tabs that by default are set to Medium but you can set them to High Detection Level which increases the chance of false positives but catches even more viruses.

For starters, Microsoft looked great in the Mar. 2018 test of 20046 viruses:

It looked pretty good in the previous tests from July-Nov. 2017:

But Microsoft wasn't among the leaders, especially in Malware Removal, though none of the big three in freeware AV (Avira, Avast, AVG) were in the top.

But note that NO antivirus is perfect and those rated one-star are very close to the three-star programs in protection ability:

In addition to Avira Free Antivirus, I also run the free edition of WinPatrol, which looks for things that try to alter or add-on to your operating system or software.

I also run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware software, though the freebie version doesn't run constantly in the background so I run it once a month or so.

I also run Glary Utilities free version, that checks for some junk and checks for inefficiencies or mistakes.