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Mrs. Muddled

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I am wondering if I really need this program on my computer. I have a full protection program with my Shaw Secure. Should I delete WD or am I missing the forest for the trees?

 

I love deleting "stuff." Tidying up makes me feel so pure. :notworthy:

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I looked up what Windows Defender is for at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Defender. It appears that it might do a few Windows-monitoring type things that Shaw probably doesn't.

 

However, running two antivirus/antispyware programs at the same time can cause problems, which Shaw also says at http://shawsecure.ca/answers_to_common_questions.php.

 

If you're not experiencing any problems, is it possible you have WD installed but some of its features are turned off?

 

On the chance that WD might be providing protection that Shaw doesn't, and if you're not experiencing conflicts, I'd recommend leaving WD installed. If you get conflicts, I'd start turning off WD features that duplicate Shaw's until the conflicts stop. If the conflicts don't stop, that is the only point at which I'd consider uninstalling WD.

 

You could get another opinion from Shaw Secure if you have a way to contact them.

Edited by SteveW
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I am wondering if I really need this program on my computer. I have a full protection program with my Shaw Secure. Should I delete WD or am I missing the forest for the trees?

 

I love deleting "stuff." Tidying up makes me feel so pure. :notworthy:

 

I would say no you probably need both.

 

From what I can tell Shaw Secure does not provide Spyware protection and thats what Windows Defender does. Windows Defender was originally Giant Antispyware and it did a pretty good job before being swallowed up by Microsoft.

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I would say no you probably need both.

 

From what I can tell Shaw Secure does not provide Spyware protection and thats what Windows Defender does. Windows Defender was originally Giant Antispyware and it did a pretty good job before being swallowed up by Microsoft.

 

Actually Shaw does protect from spyware etc. It is a complete coverage.

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Actually Shaw does protect from spyware etc. It is a complete coverage.

 

Ok. But I go by the old saying...If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Windows Defender came with Windows and is supposed to be off by default so there should be no conflict unless you turned it on. So the only harm its causing is chewing up a little disk space. If you are not short on disk space leave it.

 

There "should be" no harm in getting rid of it...BUT. MS has a history of leaving "hooks" into other peices of their OS and when pieces are removed they tend to break other parts. I don't have experience removing Windows Defenders so I can't say what will happen for sure.

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Ok. But I go by the old saying...If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I agree.

 

I doubt Shaw does all of the things listed at that Wikipedia article in the "Real-time protection" section, although if I recall correctly from earlier today, Shaw is F-Secure, so it should be possible to find out. Trend Internet Security 2009 does some of them, but I don't think it does them all, either.

 

There is no such thing as "complete coverage". With both Windows Defender and Shaw, you have a layered protection system. One can catch what the other doesn't. That is best. I run the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer once in a while, too. One time my IE security settings got changed. It's still a mystery how it happened, whether I needed to do it for some reason and forgot to put them back, or whether something corrupted them. MBSA caught it.

 

MS has a history of leaving "hooks" into other peices of their OS and when pieces are removed they tend to break other parts.

That's why I install everything Windows Update says I should even if I'm 100% sure I'll never need it (e.g. daylight savings adjustment for Australian time zones).

 

I didn't realize WD was free and works on Windows XP. Have made a note to myself to go take a look.

Edited by SteveW
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I didn't realize WD was free and works on Windows XP. Have made a note to myself to go take a look.

 

I didn't realize WD was free and works on Windows XP. Have made a note to myself to go take a look.

 

h_tp://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx

 

Windows Defender is included with all versions of Windows Vista and is available to download for genuine copies of Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later, or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 or later.
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Well, I think I shall just leave everything alone.

 

I too always accept all the updates from MS.

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to pass along your opinions on the issue.

 

MM

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  • 2 years later...
Guest shanewipe

the whole information is just wonderful. I really appreciate this effort of yours dear. its been great reading all this information of u.

i do not think i was ready for you to put words in quotation marks. i'll think about what you really want when you put your search in quotes and try to return something that makes sense.

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