Defender doesn't just work against viruses that exploit weaknesses in Windows. It also works against viruses in programs the user installs. The purpose of Defender is the same as any other antivirus software, to detect known virus signatures in downloaded software, as well as attempt to detect programs that display virus-like behaviour. It also attempts to ensure that users only install software from sources they trust. For these purposes, Windows Defender is at least as good as most other antivirus software on the market.

I would also generally recommend using an antivirus program on a Linux/OSX machine, unless you really know the risk you're accepting by not using one. Even then, I recommend occasionally running ClamAV or a Malwarebytes scan. There is a misconception of "there are no viruses for non-Windows platforms", but the thing is that a lot of viruses these days are cross-platform compatible, and all it takes is one program or dependency becoming an infection vector. Keep yourselves safe, people!

[–] cobra89@beehaw.org 3 points 11 months ago

The only caveat I'll add is that because of the way package managers work in Linux, it's much less likely someone will be running something from an untrusted source. It's less true these days with snap and flatpak but those are at least sandboxed.

It's not that common these days for Linux users to be downloading random binaries and running them.

[–] spyjoshx@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 11 months ago

That makes a lot of sense, thanks!

[–] dzervas@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I never got where the misconception of "*nix doesn't have malware" came from. Maybe from the 2k era where "malware" was anything that was slowing down your PC (I also don't get why a malware would slow down your PC, unless it's a ransomware)?

I remember the c99.php shell from way back which is an amazing example of cross-platform (PHP can run anywhere) "virus" and it was considered a golden standard (2010 era?)

[–] GeneralVincent@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

There's also the kind of malware that uses your PC to mine crypto without you knowing. And especially back in the day there were plenty of trolls just infecting computers with malware to slow them down for fun. And since malware is just software, it's all gonna be made differently so there probably plenty that just has bad code.

[–] nightdice@feddit.de 2 points 11 months ago

I think it's born from a misinderstanding of infection statistics, especially back when windows was also more popular on servers.