Is the go to solution still MS defender + Malwarebytes anti-malware? And if so, is their anti-exploit worth the extra expense?

I don’t think MS Defender is considered up to scratch any more.

e.g. from PC Mag, “Windows Defender tries to protect your Windows 8 or 8.1 installation if you don’t have third-party antivirus installed. Testing reveals that you’ll be much, much better off installing almost any other free antivirus utility.”

However this offers a somewhat different view.

http://www.howtogeek.com/225385/what%E2%80%99s-the-best-antivirus-for-windows-10-is-windows-defender-good-enough/

Testing reveals that you’ll be much, much better off installing almost any other free antivirus utility.

That’s because it’s designed to catch viruses rather than fare well in tests.

And I’ve said this before but,

The best AV you can install is all the updates for Windows, Java and Flash, and not clicking on unsolicited emails and side-loaded software. If you can manage this, you can almost do away with AV; zero-day exploits for a three-year old OS are relatively unusual. The biggest security threat is the wetware in front of the keyboard.

See here for independent tests.
https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/

If you don’t mind paying £32, Bit Defender has the best combination of performance and protection.

If you don’t mind paying £32, follow my advice and send me £32.

Cougar – Moderator
zero-day exploits for a three-year old OS are relatively unusual.

Cougar – Moderator

If you don’t mind paying £32, follow my advice and send me £32.

There were Microsoft fixes for zero-days every single patch Tuesday this year until October.

I do follow your advice. But that didn’t stop Kaspersky finding two dubious java.exe’s this morning. And didn’t stop anti-malware finding a registry entry it didn’t like. I’m just wondering if anti-exploit might plug up some holes.

I would gladly pay for your advice, but obviously that would breach STW code of practice regarding running a business on the forum 😉

There were Microsoft fixes for zero-days every single patch Tuesday this year until October.

You misunderstand.

“zero-day exploits for a three-year old OS are relatively unusual.”

(EDIT – besides, the existence of a 0-day vulnerability doesn’t necessarily mean there’s any great chance of being hit by an actual in-the-wild exploit.)

But that didn’t stop Kaspersky finding two dubious java.exe’s this morning.

What version is your JRE? (Java Runtime)

And didn’t stop anti-malware finding a registry entry it didn’t like.

Most do. Neither of these things mean absolutely that you’re infected with anything, or likely to be. Without context they could be anything. If I run MBAM on my work laptop it has a duck fit about registry entries because of the corporate policies applied to it.

(It doesn’t mean the opposite either, of course.)

So there you have it, the answer is a Skoda Octavia. Or Mondeo.

Cougar – Moderator
You misunderstand.

“zero-day exploits for a three-year old OS are relatively unusual.”

(EDIT – besides, the existence of a 0-day vulnerability doesn’t necessarily mean there’s any great chance of being hit by an actual in-the-wild exploit.)

This feels like when somebody cuts you up on a roundabout then gives you the coffee-beans sign.

The advice you gave out was silly, because you based it on an incorrect assumption.

Now you seem to be trying to preserve your ego by saying that I misunderstood your intent. Why? It’s fine to be wrong, nobody cares, nobody will think less of you. Just says “whoops, I wasn’t aware of that” or whatever. Doesn’t matter.

Anyway as I said, you can get the very best protection for £30 for three machines. It’s naff all cash for anybody on this site, and a complete no-brainer considering how precious your data/time is.

I ran a scan on W10 from malewarebytes the other day, first time I’d done it in about 3 months, since I upgraded to 10.

Only protection I have is defender and an up-to-date windows. Malewarebytes found nothing.

It’s fine to be wrong,

You should take your own advice. (-:

You’re right in that I could’ve worded it better, but that really was the intent of my post. Compared to other forms of threat, zero-day exploits are comparatively rare. A zero-day vulnerability – relatively unusual in itself – is merely something which could hypothetically be exploited; just because a patch is released doesn’t necessarily mean a real-world exploit ever existed. Plus, modern (post-XP) systems have additional systemwide hardware and software protection against zero-day exploits (see DEP and NX-bit for further reading).

Throw money at the problem if it makes you feel better. I haven’t paid for AV in forever and the last infection I personally had on any of my machines was in Windows 95 days (and that was my own fault). I believe it’s a waste of money personally, so long as the user can be trusted to keep their systems up to date and not click on / run anything stupid.

If they can’t be trusted then there’s perhaps an argument for more comprehensive protection, but then there’s a greater argument for giving them restricted non-admin accounts for day-to-day use. Time was that you could plug something like XP SP2 into the network, count to 30 and then play a quick game of Count The Infections; these days the single biggest malware threat is the right index finger.

these days the single biggest malware threat is the right index finger.

Combined with bad internet ‘advice’ I would have to agree (I don’t mean any advice on this thread). Most machines I see with real problems are the result of someone trying to ‘fix’ something by following bad advice on the net, ‘Free’ PC scans etc. They are then told to install something to fix the problem and they do 🙁 – boom

Combined with bad internet ‘advice’

As a rule of thumb, bad advice can sometimes be quite easy to spot if you know what you’re looking for. Immediate answers to vaguely described issues should be approached with scepticism; you can only really have an accurate solution once you fully understand the problem. If the provider of solutions isn’t asking any questions, it’s worth being a little bit cautious. (This thread is a poor example in that it’s a simple question and the critical variable – which OS – is in the OP. In hindsight I suppose a good question would’ve been “who’s going to be using it?”)

OK, lets take a slightly different tack. Lets assume that the user/wetware is not as diligent/educated/careful as one might be. Then MS defender + Malwarebytes anti-malware is a good starting point? The real question I have is, in this situation is anti-exploit worth the extra wonga, or just pointless?

I’ve never bothered with it personally, I’ve only ever used MBAM in a disinfection capacity so can’t authoritatively comment on its prophylactic qualities. I’d probably consider it in a, ahem, hostile environment; but as I said, in that sort of situation my first step would be a reduced-privilege user account. Once a PC is set up and all the running software installed there’s little reason for most people to be logged in as Administrator all the time.

Defender. All the rest are malware that slow your PC down and alarm you about things that aren’t an issue in the hope you’ll buy their premium product.

Make sure you’ve got 8.1 or newer. Older versions are more limited.

Other than that, combine with common sense. As for packages that offer firewall, well Windows firewall is perfectly fine, plus most people are sat behind a broadband router with a decent firewall and NATed which inherently adds protection due to having to explicitly open ports to expose services behind the router.