I don't know if that's the case. I'm a Firefox user but consider all the 3rd party apps nearly as much malware as the things they are trying to solve. I run strictly defender and try to make good choices when downloading and browsing.

I actually replace Defender with a 3rd party choice (Eset) for this very same reason - to wrestle some control over my OS from Microsoft. I find Defender to be overbearing in so many ways.

well, if we're taking strictly subjective personal experiences as some sort of a relevant benchmark, then I'm a Windows Firefox user that has never used MS defender for any length of time, and always strictly a reliable low-impact 3rd party AV like ESET or Emsisoft. so I guess the two of us cancel each other out.

So based upon rigorous analysis, approximately half of all Firefox users use the default choice, and half use a different AV.

> strictly a reliable low-impact 3rd party AV

Sounds good

> like ESET

What?! ESET used to burn constant CPU when wifi disconnected.

I agree with this and try to practice myself. I download portablespps.com hoping they have a scanner and stick to the open source ones

More complicated still, defender does not completely stop working when 3rd party AV is installed. Also maybe Firefox is not the only app triggering this bug?

I run an antivirus suite and have attempted to turn Defender off several times. Windows Update keeps switching it back on.