I've used ESET since the beginning of time.  Its payware but I've never had a problem, slowing down and interfering with anything. 

I have only used Defender for the last 10 years.

16 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Y'know, that's a GREAT question.

I don't have enough experience with consumer / standalone computers to make an informed recommendation.

My idea would be to look at cybersec vendors who have (reputable) Commercial offerings that have at least a good reputation in that space.

From a quick perusal of consumer titles, only Sophos, and perhaps BitDefender, jump out as having commercial grade solutions.

P.s., SentinelOne is great but it's really limited when it comes to prevention, lateral movement & gateway protection. Part of a good solution, but not "The" solution.

The problem here is that you're not considering the threat assessment from a home user's perspective. Yes, the bad guys have gotten better at what they do, but from a virus perspective, Defender is very good at catching viruses that are in the wild. If a virus is "public," Defender will much more than likely take care of it. 

If someone writes a custom worm/etc targeted specifically at your system, Defender is much less likely to stop it, but that's where the threat assessment comes in.

If someone is writing custom intrusion software to target a specific system, they're not going after yours. In other words, if I'm a "cybercriminal" with the ability to write my own malware to attack a system, I'm not going to go after some dude watching porn or playing games on a regular PC. I'm going to go after Wells Fargo and transfer several million into an offshore account. 

Or, let's be real, if I were a criminal and I wanted to steal the identity of an average internet user, I'd just do what the real cyber criminals do and go phishing. Congratulations, your rich relative you never heard of died and left you $30 million and all you have to do is send me your direct deposit info and your social security number.  Guaranteed I'd find at least a few dupes to steal from, and I wouldn't even have to learn how to code.

Are there still ways the average PC owner can get screwed by using Defender? Yes, but I'd wager they'll be screwed using any antivirus because what screws them is being dumb on the internet. Don't download that shady sex game you found on a .ru site. Don't play in the warez scene. Don't click links in weird emails that say government agents are coming to arrest you unless you send them a gift card or whatever. By following those simple practices and keeping Defender active, I haven't had a virus since... Come to think of it it's been so long that I'm not sure when the last virus I had was. Some time before Windows 7 came out.

 

 

4 hours ago, eslader said:

The problem here is that you're not considering the threat assessment from a home user's perspective. Yes, the bad guys have gotten better at what they do, but from a virus perspective, Defender is very good at catching viruses that are in the wild. If a virus is "public," Defender will much more than likely take care of it. 

If someone writes a custom worm/etc targeted specifically at your system, Defender is much less likely to stop it, but that's where the threat assessment comes in.

If someone is writing custom intrusion software to target a specific system, they're not going after yours. In other words, if I'm a "cybercriminal" with the ability to write my own malware to attack a system, I'm not going to go after some dude watching porn or playing games on a regular PC. I'm going to go after Wells Fargo and transfer several million into an offshore account. 

Or, let's be real, if I were a criminal and I wanted to steal the identity of an average internet user, I'd just do what the real cyber criminals do and go phishing. Congratulations, your rich relative you never heard of died and left you $30 million and all you have to do is send me your direct deposit info and your social security number.  Guaranteed I'd find at least a few dupes to steal from, and I wouldn't even have to learn how to code.

Are there still ways the average PC owner can get screwed by using Defender? Yes, but I'd wager they'll be screwed using any antivirus because what screws them is being dumb on the internet. Don't download that shady sex game you found on a .ru site. Don't play in the warez scene. Don't click links in weird emails that say government agents are coming to arrest you unless you send them a gift card or whatever. By following those simple practices and keeping Defender active, I haven't had a virus since... Come to think of it it's been so long that I'm not sure when the last virus I had was. Some time before Windows 7 came out.

 

 

I didn't say Defender isn't "Good", I said it's not "Enough".

21 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Y'know, that's a GREAT question.

I don't have enough experience with consumer / standalone computers to make an informed recommendation.

My idea would be to look at cybersec vendors who have (reputable) Commercial offerings that have at least a good reputation in that space.

From a quick perusal of consumer titles, only Sophos, and perhaps BitDefender, jump out as having commercial grade solutions.

P.s., SentinelOne is great but it's really limited when it comes to prevention, lateral movement & gateway protection. Part of a good solution, but not "The" solution.

We also use Intune policy to lock down PC's such as removing admin permissions and applying Defender policies (the business version). We aim for ~90% for 365's 'Secure Score'. But like you said, the bad guys are keeping pace...

I've got BitDefender on my Android phone and it does a pretty good job, I'd probably consider that first if I was going to add protecton to my gaming PC.