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Comment by nix0n | Hacker News Reader

What sort of third-party antivirus/firewall are people using these days?

Windows 10 is really the only viable option for my gaming PC (everything else is on Linux). So I'll run it as safely as I can.

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None. Windows Defender is actually quite good and the third party options are so bad I'd argue in many cases you're worse off having them installed.

I'm assuming Windows Defender support for Windows 10 will end when Micro$oft removes support for Windows 10.

Am I wrong? Will Defender keep getting its definition updates?

Conversely, if Defender keeps getting updates, what does it even mean for Windows 10 support to end?

The Defender for Windows 7 still gets updates.

Why you need 3rd party vendors where some of them introduces vulnerabilities when you have built-in Windows Defender and Firewall?

Or you love those popups from 3rd party vendors?

I'm assuming the drop of first-party support will force me onto a third-party.

I have had bad experiences in the past, so I'm trying to find out if there are any good ones.

I know my CPU will take a hit, but I have cycles to spare despite not having TPU support.

I'm using Nod32 (or whatever Eset calls it these days) for more than a decade and it's mostly not noticeable. I can recommend it over Defender from performance point of view - since I noticed slowdowns on machines where Defender is used. It's hard to know which one protects better, didn't have any kind of "infection" since started using Nod.

Windows introduces vulnerabilities all the time, how is that an argument?

Or do you love the ugly interface of Firewall?

Well, by increasing attack surface you do introduce potentially more vulnerabilities.

And this ain't a fairy tale - lots of stories about AV MITMing traffic, introducing unsecure endpoints, adware, etc.

By increasing the defense surface you do remove existing vulnerabilities. Also disabling Defender is reducting the attack surface

If you are not doing much on that PC, Defender and Windows Firewall is enough. Of course, that's assuming Microsoft continues to provide Defender intelligence and engine updates after 2025.

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