Microsoft released its desktop OS Windows 8 one and a half years back and before it. It had released a couple of developers version for beta testing of wide communities and sought their opinions for further development of this excellent OS .
Since, then many bloggers including me are writing many articles associated with Windows 8 but time and again hidden treasures inside this OS surprise many with its wonderful fluid interface, brilliant security measures including super fast booting and introduction of Linux type booting where hardware manufacturer can now tweak it for further conveniences of users.
For the primary ever time, Microsoft has included its flagship anti-malware and integrated deep into the OS and it drives away all possibilities of putting in any such third party anti-malware from Norton, Trend Micro, Mcafee or Eset.
Its name changes to Windows Defender because the name suggests it defends and protects the OS from outside intrusion and constant flow of malware. It doesn’t constitute a replacement feature.
Windows Defender was included altogether features of past Windows ranging from Windows Vista and it are often downloaded as a standalone installer in erstwhile Windows XP. With Windows 8, it’s incarnated into a totally fledged anti-malware to completely protect your pc .
Windows Defender of Windows 8 may be a rebadged version of Microsoft security essentials. Its name has been superseded by Windows Defender. within the past, with the success of Microsoft Security Essentials in various online tests, it feels doomsday for other third-party antivirus industries.
It provides decent protection and better than the other free antivirus software like Avast. It doesn’t have a good array of additional features. It runs silently and works within the background. It doesn’t show within the taskbar but is running inside the OS and guarding your every action ranging from scanning for pen drives, optical discs or accessing files from the pc .
It doesn’t have a context menu scanning option and this user cannot scan individual files. So, there are two prominent features are missing in Windows Defender of Windows 8. One is that the context menu scanning and therefore the other is that the icon isn’t visible inside the taskbar Perhaps this could be the first reason why Windows Defender isn’t showing inside the taskbar.
Windows Defender automatically updates itself through Windows updates. On Windows 8, Microsoft update is hidden deep inside and in contrast to Windows XP it can’t be done separately because it is made inside and goes on update with none such effort from the user.
Many modern computers purchased with Windows 8 won’t have Windows Defender as their default antivirus installation. Many hardware manufacturers are installing third-party antivirus programs as and when the user installs these third-party programs they receive the royalty from them.
It is wise to not use such programs as Microsoft is providing wonderful anti-malware program namely Windows Defender and it’s seamless integration with the OS . Its interface is smooth and straightforward . it’s quite clear and runs at high speed with none such disturbances and conflict of the OS .
Many times it’s been seen, many antivirus programs aren’t running well as they’re third-party antivirus programs and have a tendency to lag the OS and make some time and sluggish.
These royalties for computer manufacturers start from $15 to $20 and when considering computers sell in millions the accumulated royalty beginning from installing third-party antivirus packages becomes an enormous commercial advantage for the pc manufacturer.
Microsoft has provided an escape route for a computer manufacturer to disable default Anti Malware Windows Defender easily.
The strength of Windows Defender:
In this way, they still receive a high degree of royalty from third-party antivirus companies in exchange for bundling their software in computers. Though, Microsoft has made it compulsory for all third-party antivirus companies to make a clean install and uninstall antivirus.
It doesn’t want earlier problems of bad registry entries, leftover files which can make the pc slow and sluggish and changing from one antivirus to the opposite become problematic. With these additional policies, now user can easily swap between different antivirus packages with none difficulties.
The strength of Windows Defender is that it doesn’t encourage the user to shop for any product or it doesn’t interfere with the search index of users. It doesn’t install the third-party toolbar or any such adware which may interfere as distinctive spheres of Windows.
Google recently announced stricter application advertisement restriction policies for application developers to not bundle a billboard which can appear when a user must be involved the appliance . Of late, the user tends to be worried about open adware installation on Android device.
Google then revised its application policy and provides a particular time for the user, to get rid of bundles adware from application otherwise these applications are going to be banned for all times . On the opposite hand, Microsoft has given many scope for stopping such visualisation of adware on its application. it’s needless to say is that user never loving adware and that they don’t want it to run while playing games or using the appliance .
It is unquestionably the foremost difficult intrusions. within the past, we’ve seen many such intrusion detection mechanisms where users need to employ an intrusion prevention system and check out hard to secure system through the implementation of those complex mechanisms.
Many a time, such a measure will make the pc unbootable and susceptible to malware. within the past, we’ve seen threat-fire nearly as good software to prevent rootkit but it’s bloated and makes the system heavy and lots of a time un-bootable.
These newer versions of Windows Microsoft have made some serious overall in coding patterns including the advance arrangement with leading computer manufacturers to introduce hardware security on preventing the rootkit from getting into the system.
When rootkits affect booting of the pc , it becomes a bootkit. Microsoft has introduced some critical changes in Windows 8 to tackle rootkit and make it safe for the OS .
Boot Kit completely controls system files and bootloader and replaces original boot loading files with its own version bootloader is preliminary files used for booting and when these aren’t available, then the pc will never be bootable.
This was a grave problem with Windows XP, but it seems with Windows 8 most of those problems are solved. Microsoft has also released Windows Defender offline for an older version of Microsoft Windows and it helps other computers to repair bootloader files through the optical driver.
Smart security enhancement of Windows 8:
A big change of Windows 8 security postures is that the compulsory requirement of the pc manufacturer to use a replacement sort of firmware called UEFI. Generally, within the past, most computer manufacturers use BIOS firmware embedded within the motherboard.
The concept of BIOS has been used since IBM first introduced in 1981. Since then, many developments and enhancements are there on BIOS front but it’s some limitations. the essential configuration are often amended and this makes the way for hackers to make a sustainable path of intrusion from the trail of the configuration of hardware and software.
These limitations on basic designs directly affect computer security. UEFI may be a new technology and originally developed by Intel within the 1990s, but subsequently, it’s been developed by a consortium of hardware manufacturers like Apple, Microsoft, HP, Ubuntu, Intel, Lenovo then on. UEFI runs with secure digital booting and it checks for certificates before it loads a bootloader and it’s called as secure boot function which is extremely secure and impracticable in terms of malware attacks.
This feature comes with severe criticisms from Linux users who are going to be in no position to dual boot with Windows. because the certificate of Linux-boot won’t be recognizable by UEFI and thus it fails to load the bootloader and OS .
The digital signature of Linux-boot won’t be recognizable by UEFI. Microsoft has done this deliberately to form a secure place for the OS . within the past, most hackers stole digital certificates from companies and wont to boot load through it and gain administrative access to system files. Most of those users are from Linux communities.
In order to calm Linux users, Microsoft specifies to hardware manufacturers to enable secure boot by default but also it says that there should be a mechanism to disable security-but when the user wants it to disable for installing the twin OS .
All these terms and conditions are indicated in Microsoft hardware requirements. within the short term with the introduction of the rootkit, attack surface and boot kit are completely disabled or driven out from the bootloader for the OS .
UEFI:
We don’t know whether any hacker are going to be ready to trespass such strong UEFI bootloader system or not except for the nonce it’s securest OS ever produced by Microsoft. After UEFI secure boot, which stops any such boot kits to exchange default bootloader, Microsoft has introduced a replacement concept of security referred to as Early Launch Anti Malware Technology which allows anti-malware to load first after secure boot so as to supply full-time security to the OS .
In the past most serious threat to the Windows OS has been from initialization of rootkits or stealth mechanisms early from the bootloader and before the commencement of programs in an OS .
Windows 8, Microsoft has considerably improved various features of this OS through the introduction of secure boot and early launch anti-malware technology which virtually closes all routes of trespassing of bootkit, rootkit and stealth mechanisms.
There are various technologies which may remove such threats but when this malware start before starting of antivirus software, it poses serious difficulties for third-party antivirus software to prevent these menaces.
ELAM is strictly a detection technology and for the nonce because it’s no capacity to get rid of malware. It stays in between OS code and time of its execution. It seriously checks for exploits and stops it before it became a catastrophe.
ELAM:
Once the OS starts loading from the method of the bootloader of UEFI secure boot, it hands over OS for cover to third-party antivirus installed on the system. The technology of ELAM may be a major boost to the safety of the Windows OS because it poses as deterrents else time malware.
In the end beginning of bootloader with UEFI secure boot then the boot-process of checking code hijacking through ELAM and eventually OS loads with Windows Defender as standard user sans administrative rights gives exclusive security to the newest version of Windows from Microsoft. In my opinion, it’s one among the foremost secure and safe OS ever done by Microsoft. Keep using it.
How to run Windows Defender in Windows 8?
Smart security enhancement of Windows 8
Step 1: User left click on “Search (button)” in “Charm Bar”
Step 2: User keyboard input on “Search (pane)” in “Search” [… Backspace …]
Step 3: User left click on “Settings (text)” in “Search”
Step 4: User left click on “Windows Defender (edit)” in “Settings Search”
Step 5: User mouse drag start on “Windows Defender (window)” in “Windows Defender”
Step 6: User mouse drag endways “Windows Defender (window)” in “Windows Defender”
Step 7: User left click on “Update (button)” in “Windows Defender”
Step 8: User left click on “History (button)” in “Windows Defender”
Step 9: User left click on “Settings (button)” in “Windows Defender”
Step 10: User left click on “Excluded files and locations (text)” in “Windows Defender”
Step 11: User left click on “Excluded file types (text)” in “Windows Defender”
Step 12: User left click on “Excluded processes (text)” in “Windows Defender”
Step 13: User left click on “Advanced (text)” in “Windows Defender”
Step 14: User left click on “Administrator (text)” in “Windows Defender”
