Windows Defender Beta2 is out
If your a fan of Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta1 then you should take a look at Microsoft’s new antispyware release - Windows Defender Beta 2. It’s the new name for the free anti-spyware product released by Microsoft initially for XP and 2000.
The product was bought from Giant more than a year ago, though sadly Microsoft gimped it to not work on Windows 95, 98 or Me.
Defender will ship as part of Windows Vista, XP’s successor.
On first looks it’s less pretty, I have to say, but who cares. Does it work? Yeah. I remain a fan, but check it out for yourself and let me know what you think in the comments on this post. Windows Defender Beta2
February 24th, 2006 at 9:48 am
Installed it this morning, and so far I’m really liking it.
I run an outsourced IT business, and I would reccomend the MS Anti-spyware software to many clients, and this one is no different.
I espcially liked the “Software Explorer” section, it’s sorta like Hijack-This only a lot clearer on what program/software/processes are doing what.
I’ll have to try it out on an infected machine to know for sure, but so far, 2 Fins up!~
Cheers!
February 24th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
I think it has its ups and downs. On the up side, I think the interface is much cleaner and less confusing then Beta 1, and the icons look great. Everything seems easier to access then before (type of scan, etc). Software Explorer is indeed very handy, and updates are handled through Windows Update, which makes sense.
On the down side, though, scanning takes a LOT longer then in Beta 1. I’m not sure why, but it seems to crawl through my files instead of fly through them like the first beta did (yes, both the same scan type). Also, Beta 2 is now a service instead of just an application - a change which I can see the benefits of, but it’s more annoying to completely shut it down if I don’t want it running (unless someone can tell me how to make a batch file to shut down the service and process). One last annoyance I’ve found is it freezes my machine on shutdown and I have to do a hard reboot - an unfortunate problem for a program I would like to have running all the time.
Overall, it gets two thumbs up from me. Scanning may be longer, and I may have a few issues with it, but it’s still the best in my book. I wish I could have it running all the time, but that’s how these things go.
February 27th, 2006 at 4:51 am
I updated to Defender beta 2 a week or so ago and was quite disappointed.
The interface is so flat it’s almost less user friendly and the big problem is how much longer it now takes to scan my PC.
I’m still using it but it’s now become impractical to have my automatic daily scan since it brings my system to a crawl for a good 20+ minutes.
March 3rd, 2006 at 3:59 am
Caboose: http://digg.com/software/Hidden_task_killer_in_Windows_XP_ (also explains how to create a TaskKill batch file)
March 21st, 2006 at 11:49 pm
I am hearing mixed things — some bloggs like you seem to love it, and then at SpyWarrior I noticed Windows antispyware got a lot of guff for passing over Claria, which I gather is a pretty bad spyware company. Still, I may as well try it out. it is free.
April 12th, 2006 at 1:04 am
It tested pretty good in the lab of all of the freeware. It’s detetcion rates seem to be the highest.
-Andy