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Windows Defender vs third-party antivirus
In This Article
Microsoft Defender – formerly known as Windows Defender – now covers a broad range of home, enterprise and cloud security and antivirus solutions. Let’s take a look at the consumer version of Defender built into Windows 10 andWindows 11andhow its features compare and differ to most third part anti-virus solutions.
Results from anti-malware testing houses including theAV-TEST,AV ComparativesandSE Labsregularly show that Microsoft Defender Antivirus’s protection against both live “real world” security threats and flat scans of reference sets of recently collected malware is comparable to that of the best third party products.
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What features does Defender have?
Defender doesn’t skimp on features either. Your Windows Security settings include:
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What features is Defender missing?
There are some features Microsoft Defender lacks, or which could do with improvement. Scheduled scans have to be set up using the Windows Task Scheduler, via an old-school interface that doesn’t really match with Windows’ modern easy-to-use feel. Manual firewall rule creation feels similarly antiquated. And there’s no specific webcam protection module, which many people like as a peace-of-mind option.
But when it comes to the core function of protection your PC from malware threats from all sources, Microsoft Defender is both effective and – mostly – conspicuously easy to use.
If you’re running Windows 10 or Windows 11, Windows Defender provides as effective protection against malware as almost any of its free or paid-for rivals. You don’t need to install it or activate it, and its default configuration provides decent protection for most of the usual threats facing general consumers. It’s already there, working, as soon as your activate your OS. Remember to keep up with your Windows Security Updates and you’re golden.
However, if you’re still using older an Windows PC, whether through necessity or preference, you absolutely need dedicated third-party antivirus software to keep them safe from online threats, as well as the occasional instance of malware spread by other means.Avastis an excellent free choice andKaspersky Internet Securitywill serve you well if you’re in the marked for paid-for antivirus.
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K.G. Orphanides is a writer and developer whose areas of expertise include internet security, VPNs, Linux for the desktop, small-scale game development, software preservation and computer audio techno…
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
