Defender questiom.

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Why does Windows hide what Defender is doing and not offer a window that
shows what defender is doing? I like info and this prooduct gives me none. I
don't want to here my computer crunching on somthing and have to go to my
TaskManager to see what it is. I want to see the updates that it is
downloading what files it's reading how far along it is and a choice to make
it a quick scan or a full deep scan. I also don't want to have to go through
other pages to get to this info. Put this stuff up front. There has just got
to be a better interface then this. It makes me want to uninstall it. Are
people so detached from software thats running on there computers that they
don't care so this is what you put out?
 
There has just got
to be a better interface then this. It makes me want to uninstall it. Are
people so detached from software thats running on there computers that
they
don't care so this is what you put out?
Click to expand...

I used to wonder about similar things myself, until the good folk who
regularly walk the corridors of these message boards explained matters to
me. Defender is a deliberate attempt to supply something that the great
majority of computer users require, namely, something that will protect
their computers with the minimum of fuss and user intervention. Now you or I
may say it's better to educate people into better ways, but at the same time
the facts of established patterns of behaviour of the majority of computer
users have to be faced. To a reasonable degree, Defender is capable of
providing the typical computer user (who has no interest in, nor
understanding of, the technical details of computer security) with a
substantially better-than-nothing level of protection.

So my feeling here is that you're attacking Defender because it isn't the
software you want it to be - but then, it wasn't really intended to be the
software you're looking for. There's no use in attacking a bicycle for being
a bicycle and not being a car.

But also, most of the information you're seeking is there if you dig for it.
There's certainly no problem about choosing between quick and complete scan:
that option is available by opening the GUI and clicking the little arrow to
the right of the word 'scan'. If you want to automate that, you can do it
through 'tools', then 'options'. If you scan with the GUI open, you can see
the files being scanned.

Take a few minutes to look at the options available to you. With a few ticks
in a few boxes you can get Defender to send up plenty of pop-up panels to
alert you to system changes, and indeed wear you out with their frequency.

Defender has all sorts of limitations - I think its user interface is still
far, far, too poor at communicating information in a form that can be
understood by the typical user. But you can switch it on and virtually
forget it's there most of the time - and that's what it was designed to be
like.

(If Bill Sanderson reads this I hope he doesn't tell me I've got it all
wrong!!)
 
I apperciate your input It is welcome. However you can't compare a bicycle to
a car. I think I see it more like BUYING a car with a trunk because you want
versatility. Instaed you get a car without a trunk. Windows "is" trying to
compete with other kinds of defence software. I am not a computer guy and
know nothing about software. I just know that I don't Like things running in
the background that don't need to be. Microsoft has a history of making
things for there good not mine take up resources like Messenger and others.
I should not need to understand your version to find my way around. That is
not user friendly to tell me I need to know what page I have to look at to
show me what the program is doing. This is not a attack on any one person.
This is just a wish to keep a product on my computer without concern. I would
like to give it a shot but if it is as you say? I might need to just
uninstall it if I can.
 
However you can't compare a bicycle to
a car.
Click to expand...

That's exactly the point I was making, though the analogy seems to have been
distracting rather than helpful.
I am not a computer guy and
know nothing about software.
I just know that I don't Like things running in
the background that don't need to be.
Click to expand...

But I wonder, if indeed you know nothing about software, how you decide what
does and does not need to be running in the background? One important aspect
of Defender is that by running in the background, it can block some of the
bad things that you definitely DON'T want running in the background. Any
antimalware program offering real time protection will do this. As I said in
my previous post, the underlying philosophy was to create a program that
could mostly be left alone to get on with the job of quietly protecting you
from the bad stuff.
I should not need to understand your version to find my way around. That
is
not user friendly to tell me I need to know what page I have to look at to
show me what the program is doing.
Click to expand...

Any antimalware program requires a little bit of getting used to. They all
have their own idiosyncracies and obscurities. I don't think Defender is
particularly worse in this respect than most others I've used. I find it
very much more user-friendly and easier to configure than my AVG scanner,
for example (and I use both).
This is just a wish to keep a product on my computer without concern. I
would
like to give it a shot but if it is as you say? I might need to just
uninstall it if I can.
Click to expand...

Everyone finds a solution to their internet security problems in their own
way, and I wish you good luck in finding yours.
 
Not that they don't care, but that what is going on is sufficiently complex
already that the vast majority of users really don't want to be bothered
with the details. This is a product Microsoft would like to see running on
every machine--so low overhead in terms of UI is essential. Set autoupdates
to prompt and you can see the updates, I believe. If you are running on
Vista, you can't uninstall, but you can turn it off--see the last buttons in
options--scroll down.
 
Again--it sounds, from your description, that you are running Vista. If so,
do you really know what other background processes are running on your
system, and what they do?
 
IT's just made for people that don't care or don't understand. Ok... I got
it. I do not understand every thing and every part of vista. Wow I sure wish
I did. I do know enough to know that some thins are not needed. I guess It
just kills me to have somthing on my compter that makes me feel like I don't
have control of it and yes this product makes me feel this way. Oh well I
just turned it off. Software like this make me feel like they will never be
off completely. Even though I turnd it off it feels like it will be like
another Windows messenger problem running in the background even after it
says it's not on. If it's realy off why can't it be uninstalled? What info
was Messenger sending that was so important to MS anyway? Gosh it was all
over the web. Maybe I should go back and read again
 
I guess It
just kills me to have somthing on my compter that makes me feel like I
don't
have control of it and yes this product makes me feel this way. Oh well I
just turned it off.
Click to expand...

Your choice, of course. But the bad guys out there are queueing up to take
control of your computer without your knowledge and for the worst of
reasons. In turning off Defender, you make things that much easier for them.

I hope you have some alternative anti-spyware protection in place, other
than Defender.
 
May I just amplify or try to give a different perspective. There are many
processes running on your system which are not associated with a UI - you can
only read the logs of their actions and the average user wouldn`t be able to
interpret them. Do you ever give those a thought or even know what they are
doing or supposed to achieve? Could it not be, therefore, that you are
finding it difficult to accept WD simply because it has a UI and you feel,
therefore, that it should be giving you an indication of what it is doing at
every point. Put another way. If it didn`t have a UI but you knew it was a
running process. Would you view it any differently?

Stu
 
Yes, I always have anti virus/internet security running on my box and will
never not have it. I understand what you guys are saying. I can't help that
things are running that I don't know about. Isn't that kinda a silly thing to
ask me? If I knew about them and knew I didn't need them YES it would bother
me. You can find list all over the internet from MS programers telling you
what is necessary and what is not necessary in XP. So that would tell me that
Vista is no different. Sure if you trun off the wrong thing it will cause big
problems. I'm not here trying to do that, I just know that more things are
running then I might need. WD is in my face and in my ears. So it is first on
my list of things to find out if I want to keep it. I did want to kill it but
you guys have made it clear that it is a substandard product made to just
exist and windows has no interest in improving it because of cost. No hard
feelings...I will just use Nortons or AVG but I sure still wish I could
uninstall it. I still don't understand if it's not running why I can't?
Thanks for all your input guys.
 
you guys have made it clear that it is a substandard product made to just
exist and windows has no interest in improving it because of cost.
Click to expand...

I'd just like to make it extra clear (for the benefit of anyone else who may
read these posts) that no one here said that - nor indeed, anything like it.
 
Alan do you work for MS or Defender division?


Alan D said:
I'd just like to make it extra clear (for the benefit of anyone else who may
read these posts) that no one here said that - nor indeed, anything like it.
Click to expand...
 
Alan do you work for MS or Defender division?
Click to expand...

Oh gosh, they would have to be in a very bad state if they needed to employ
me. No, I have no connection with them at all. I'm no kind of computer
expert. But I have spent a lot of time and trouble (with the help of the
people in this forum and elsewhere) educating myself as far as I can (given
my limitations) about internet security.

I have been highly critical of Defender (like many of the people in this
forum, I used it for a long time while it was still in its beta state), and
I still am critical of it in a number of ways. I don't trust it as much as
several other antispyware programs that I also use regularly. But as a
solution for someone who simply wants some degree of unobtrusive protection,
it seems to do a reasonable job as far as I can tell. I certainly don't
believe it's 'substandard', and I know that Microsoft are actively trying to
improve it - contrary to what you suggest.

My main concern at this point is that you seem to have misunderstood many of
the comments made by myself and others.
 
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