WD Catch Anything?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Higgins
  • Start date Start date
If you want to see Defender catch something, try the EICAR the test file...

From Joe Faulhaber [MSFT]:
"We've had EICAR in our definitions for about two months now, which also
means we're not communicating the content of the definitions very well, but
that's another issue.

For those of you who want to know what we're talking about, the EICAR group
came up with a harmless file detected by antivirus products so you can
safely verify the product's working. If you haven't seen Windows Defender
detect something, visit http://eicar.org, download the 68 byte file
eicar.com.txt, and copy it to your startup folder. Your AV solution (that
you should be running in addition to Windows Defender) will also pick it
up."
 
Great idea--but slightly confusing! Please remember, folks, that, despite
this detection, which is a great idea, and quite useful--Windows Defender is
not an antivirus application. You need an antivirus application in addition
to Windows Defender.

I know Joe Faulhaber said all that, but I want to emphasize it because it
can be a point of confusion. And if this advice gets passed on in shortened
form, the use of EICAR may add to the confusion.

--

Dave M said:
If you want to see Defender catch something, try the EICAR the test
file...

From Joe Faulhaber [MSFT]:
"We've had EICAR in our definitions for about two months now, which also
means we're not communicating the content of the definitions very well,
but
that's another issue.

For those of you who want to know what we're talking about, the EICAR
group
came up with a harmless file detected by antivirus products so you can
safely verify the product's working. If you haven't seen Windows Defender
detect something, visit http://eicar.org, download the 68 byte file
eicar.com.txt, and copy it to your startup folder. Your AV solution (that
you should be running in addition to Windows Defender) will also pick it
up."

--

Regards, Dave


Jim said:
Has anyone ever had WD ever catch anything?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I have not had defender find anything. I had some things found with
some other spyware apps though.
 
Jeanette said:
I have not had defender find anything. I had some things found with some
other spyware apps though.
Click to expand...

1. Were the things detected by the other apps cookies? If so, Defender
doesn't detect cookies, by design.
2. Were they false positive responses by the other apps? I've experienced
alerts from other apps too, but on every occasion further investigation
proved them to be false positives.
 
I've seen some recent information--can't recall the source, indicating that
currently, the issue of web sites--both malicious and innocent (i.e. hacked)
distributing viruses and trojans--is much more prevalent than spyware.

So--the spyware problem may be at a low ebb at the moment--although Windows
Defender should be capable of alerting to the changes to the system when a
trojan is being put in place as well.

--
 
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