Kaspersky: Windows 10's antivirus integration anti-competitive

Eugen Kaspersky, head of the Russian security company Kaspersky Lab has accused Microsoft of anti-competitive practices in the Windows 10 operating system.
Kaspersky complains that Microsoft pushes Windows Defender on Windows 10 devices to the detriment of third-party antivirus vendors.
We think that Microsoft has been using its dominating position in the market of operating systems to create competitive advantages for its own product. The company is foisting its Defender on the user, which isn’t beneficial from the point of view of protection of a computer against cyberattacks. The company is also creating obstacles for companies to access the market, and infringes upon the interests of independent developers of security products.
Microsoft's own solution, Windows Defender, ships with Windows 10 to protect users on a basic level against threats.
Windows Defender can be best described as basic protection. Independent tests by organizations such as AV Tests have shown that Windows Defender does not offer the same level of protection as most third-party antivirus solutions.
While that is the case, it protects against many major threats that users may be exposed to while using the computer.
Microsoft designed Windows Defender to jump in if no third-party antivirus program is found on the computer the operating system is running on. If the user installs a third-party product, Windows Defender will disable itself automatically to avoid conflicts.
Kaspersky's lengthy complaint comes down to this: Windows 10 may deactivate installed third-party antivirus solutions during system upgrades because of incompatibilities. The operating system may furthermore push notifications that "tell" the user that Windows Defender protection is turned off even if a third-party product is installed, and will turn on Windows Defender a couple of days after a third-party product expires.
If you dissect the claims, you may come to the conclusion that there are two sides to the story. First, that it seems appropriate for Windows 10 to turn on Windows Defender if no or expired third-party products are found on the system.
This raises the question whose fault it is when that happens.
Second, that Windows 10 has its fair share of issues including those affecting the incompatibility check during system upgrades. If you upgraded Windows 10 to a new version, or from an older version of Windows to Windows 10, you may have noticed the following behavior.
The upgrade assistant notifies you that software XY is incompatible with Windows 10. You upgrade anyway, and install software XY after the upgrade on the system without issues and it runs just fine on it.
Kaspersky suggests two changes to level the playing field. First, that Microsoft provides third-parties with new versions of Windows and updates in "good time". Second, that the install and notification system changes to make it clearer to users that the process will remove third-party antivirus software.
Closing Words
It is clear that the current system of checking for incompatibilities is problematic for companies affected by it as it is likely that a percentage of users won't re-install these products after upgrades complete. Notifications about these things, and others, could be better as well to help users better understand the implications.
Now You: What's your take on the claim?


What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help