Antivirus Software Skepticism

Discussions criticize third-party antivirus vendors for scandals, sketchiness, and reduced security, while advocating Windows Defender as sufficient and preferable.

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5,437
Comments
20
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#6558
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
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171
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Keywords

MS IT SourceForge AntiVirus pcworld.com SSH MBAM tests.html AVG arstechnica.com defender av windows virus malware anti software avg viruses sketchy

Sample Comments

mosselman Aug 19, 2019 View on HN

Which other AntiVirus vendors do this? How can you opt-out and is there a point to installing anti-virus software to begin with?

downrightmike Jul 14, 2023 View on HN

Yup even trusted antivirus vendors do it: Avast Scandal: Why We Stopped Recommending Avast and AVG https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36728825

jimmaswell Feb 18, 2016 View on HN

Are you sure Microsoft's antivirus wasn't enough?

rcxdude Sep 1, 2025 View on HN

antivirus won't generally do much for those either.

fransje26 May 12, 2025 View on HN

Is there a more performant, less resource-crippling, antivirus for Windows?

mrclark411 Oct 23, 2020 View on HN

Interesting that no anti-virus type software is mentioned.

koolba Jan 9, 2018 View on HN

Which third-party AV isn't dodgy?

tedunangst Mar 8, 2020 View on HN

Running AV software seems like not the best mitigation here.

drngdds Nov 20, 2017 View on HN

What's so bad about AV, and what makes Windows Defender an exception?

mrguyorama Apr 19, 2019 View on HN

That sounds like a poor strategy over just running Windows Defender or the like