And now, as a consultant, I do work with other security companies in the industry.
#Do i really need antivirus software on windows 10 full
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say here that I was part of Microsoft’s Security group for about ten years. Second, that malware is a fabricated problem, hyped by security companies who are trying to scare you and convince you to buy their products.First, that malware is really only a problem with Windows and that’s because of Windows’ fundamental security design flaws.There are really just two arguments that people make against running anti-malware: You would be hard pressed to find someone completely anti-malware free on a modern version of Windows.īut the world isn’t what it was and as more and more people connect to the Internet using something other than a PC running Windows, the age old question is coming up again: Do I really need anti-malware?Īs someone with a long history in security, I can say that the answer to this is not only “Yes”, but also “more than ever”. And Microsoft has indicated that they plan to include anti-malware capability integrated into Windows 8.Īt this point, even if you wanted to run Windows on your PC without anti-malware, the hassle of disabling notifications and warnings plus the availability of a free solution with Microsoft Security Essentials makes downloading and running that the path of least resistance. Since 2011, Microsoft has offered a free antivirus solution, Microsoft Security Essentials, to Windows users. The company started with the Windows Security Center in Windows Vista, which warned if you weren’t running up-to-date anti-malware. Anti-malware is such a key part of PC computing that Microsoft has integrated anti-malware support ever more deeply into the operating system over the past few years.