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[JulsieL]

i was advised [in this forum] to remove AVG antivirus because Media Center was "sticking" and generally not working properly. It works well now. But a I am only using "windows Defender" [windows 10] I was wondering which antivirus is recommended?

[RoderickGI]

Ah, there is never a good answer to that question.  ?

Lots of people just use Windows Defender, so you could just do that. If you do, take a look at the Taming Windows Defender Wiki article.

If you don't want to use Windows Defender, then take a read of the Antivirus thread for ideas of what to avoid. I use Norton 360 and find it is good, but even it has given me some issues recently. All solvable, but annoying.

The problem is, most main stream Antivirus programs work pretty well there days, and can be tamed when they don't. But it often requires some detective work and tweaking. So if you aren't into that, any Antivirus is going to give you some grief.

[glynor]

I don't use AVG, but I'm sure you could tame it using some method similar to the one we have posted for Windows Defender to get it to play nice with MC.

I use Windows Defender.

[astromo]

I use Symantec End Point and coupled with glynor's taming advice, I've found it to be pretty agreeable.

I've tried avast and bitdefender but both gave me MC grief (don't ask me for details ... too long ago).

I like the admin capability of SEP where I can set a policy and from a central command point in the cloud, it will disseminate the policy settings to the PCs on my network. Handy.

[JulsieL]

Thanks for your replies. I will stay with Defender and Malwarebytes

[JimH]

It is not a good idea to run two AV programs.  I'm not sure if that was what you meant.

[RoderickGI]

Jim, last time I looked at Windows Defender and Malwarebytes, they still did quite different things. Many people run them together, as they are quite complementary.

Windows Defender is just an Antivirus solution.
Malwarebytes is just an Anti-Malware solution.

Layered security is essential for protecting the organization and an Antivirus or other security measure such as a firewall should be run alongside Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

[glynor]

Yeah. MalwareBytes is the one exception to that general rule.

I don't use its real time monitoring, though.

[JimH]

Jim, last time I looked at Windows Defender and Malwarebytes, they still did quite different things. Many people run them together, as they are quite complementary.

Windows Defender is just an Antivirus solution.
Malwarebytes is just an Anti-Malware solution.

Thanks.  Those two may be fine, but we've had a lot of problems from nice "security" software that wasn't doing only what it said it was.  No kidding.  

I believe they cause our users more problems than viruses do.

[JimH]

I don't use its real time monitoring, though.

Which would definitely help.

[glynor]

Which would definitely help.

Yep. Agreed.

MalwareBytes is designed to be run alongside a regular antivirus application (they recommend Defender, in fact) though. It isn't quite like the others. It is more about catching the stuff the other guys decide isn't quite "virus" like, but is still awful (spyware, malware, adware, etc).

But I don't run the realtime protection because it will slow down the PC and it isn't usually necessary unless you "drive" your PC poorly.

[glynor]

I believe they cause our users more problems than viruses do.

This is absolutely the case writ-large.

The problems they cause may not be as destructive as getting a bad infection (something like Cryptolocker -- shudder). But they certainly cause way more problems, in sheer numbers, than just running without one.

[RoderickGI]

I agree with all the above. I just didn't think it was a good idea to leave the impression that running Defender and Malwarebytes together specifically with MC was a bad thing. Because lots of people who don't use MC do run Defender and Malwarebytes together successfully.

Part of the reason I use Norton 360 is because it has both antivirus and antimalware capabilities in the one software suite. It isn't as good as Malwarebytes, but I think it is better than Defender.

Also, nearly all mature security software can be tamed to work the way you want it, and not interfere with programs you want to work. But it can take quite a high geek quotient, and not a small amount of patience, at times.

[CountryBumkin]

I run Windows Defender and Malwarebytes. In both programs you can "exclude" the program from monitoring specific files and/or folders.
So I set both programs to exclude the JRiver program and the folders were my Audio-Video files are saved. No problems so far.

[maid]

Hi Guys, Windows defender on win 7 mc 20 looks different.
Also I cant figure where jrservice.exe is I cant see any .exe files or do I have to type them in ?

[glynor]

You don't exclude them by file type. You need to get to Excluded Processes, and then add the various processes for MC:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Taming_Windows_Defender

One thing to note, if you are running Windows 7, then Windows Defender is NOT an anti-virus application, only a spyware removal tool. It is confusing because Microsoft changed the names of things when Windows 8 was released.  This is explained here:
http://blogs.microsoft.com/cybertrust/2013/11/14/windows-defender-and-microsoft-security-essentials-which-one-do-i-need/

If you are running Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, then the Microsoft Anti-Virus application is called Microsoft Security Essentials.  It isn't included, but you can download it for free here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download

You can install a separate program from Microsoft called Windows Defender on Windows 7 and earlier, but it is a different type of tool (which removes spyware). You do not need to exclude Media Center in it if you have it. I would probably recommend against using it if you are on Windows 7, though. If you need to remove Spyware, I'd recommend MalwareBytes discussed above instead.  But, please note that Windows Defender for Windows XP, Vista, and 7 is NOT an anti-virus application and won't detect or remove virus infections.

From your screenshot, I think this is what you have. It is hard to tell because your screenshot is oddly cropped and doesn't show the whole window, but I think that's what you have there. You have the wrong thing installed, if it is called Windows Defender and you're really on Windows 7.

If you are running Windows 8 or newer, Microsoft merged the functionality previously in Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials together into one tool called Windows Defender.

[maid]

which in your opinion is best. I have just removed AVG as something was causing excessive cpu usage lately causing some weird whining noises

[glynor]

which in your opinion is best. I have just removed AVG as something was causing excessive cpu usage lately causing some weird whining noises

I like Microsoft Security Essentials (which, for Windows 8 and later is called Windows Defender).

[maid]

will i need to put exceptions in ?

[glynor]

will i need to put exceptions in ?

It depends on your PC.  I don't need to on most of mine, but slower ones need it.  Mostly the dividing line, in my experience, is disk speed (if your Library and applications disk is on an SSD, you might not need to).

In all cases, it helps performance a bit to put the exceptions in as described in the above-linked article. With some PCs it only helps slightly (maybe imperceptibly to someone who doesn't pay super-close attention to the machine).  On others, it is pretty unusable (or noticeably bad) without adding the exceptions.