I follow three of this lab's many tests, and Microsoft appears in the latest report for two of those. Windows Defender earns the basic Standard certification in both of those tests. In the latest banking protection test, almost half the tested products fail, Windows Defender among them.
The other test from this lab measures defense against a full range of malware types. In this test, a product that completely thwarts all the malware attacks earns Level 1 certification. A product that remediates the attacks within 24 hours gets Level 2 certification. Here, too, nearly half the products fail. Each lab uses its own scoring system, which makes comparisons tough. I've devised an algorithm that maps them all to a point scale and generates an aggregate score.
The current aggregate score for Windows Defender is 8. Also tested by all four labs, Kaspersky scores a near-perfect 9. If you never installed any other form of malware protection , or if the antivirus you did install expires, Windows Defender steps in and does its best to keep you safe. I also put it through my regular hands-on malware protection test for a real-world view of its effectiveness. I made sure to configure it to detect lower-risk items such as adware and potentially unwanted programs PUPs.
I also enabled the permission-based ransomware protection. To start my hands-on testing, I open a folder containing my current set of malware samples. Shortly after I did so, Windows Defender began very slowly picking off those that it recognized as malware.
Eventually it stopped finding new samples to quarantine. Next, I exposed Windows Defender to hand-modified copies of my sample set.
To create these copies, I change the filename, append zeroes to change the file size, and overwrite some non-executable bytes. Somewhat surprisingly, it caught a couple of the modified samples whose originals slipped the net.
A product can lose points from its overall score by leaving behind traces of the malware it detected. Malwarebytes doesn't lose a thing, coming in with a perfect 10 points, while McAfee is very close with 9. Windows Defender scores 9. I did run into one odd problem. Windows Defender kept finding certain malware threats over and over, even after it eliminated them.
A little research revealed that this is a fairly common problem, solved by deleting a detection history folder that Defender maintains. These are typically no more than a few days old. I launch each URL and note whether the antivirus blocks all access to the page, eliminates the downloaded malware, or does nothing at all. It's worth noting that most competing products apply malicious download protection to all popular browsers, while Microsoft only protects its own.
When it detected a dangerous URL, the filter diverted the browser to a warning page. The file-level protection took several forms. Microsoft Defender Antivirus, completely free and fully integrated into Windows 10 and 11 , has gone from strength to strength to become the most consistently reliable antivirus suite around. The sheer volume of malware and potentially unwanted programs that Windows systems encounter and report back about gives Microsoft a huge pool of data to help identify and protect against active malware threats.
But how does it compare to the absolute best free antivirus options, and should you look elsewhere for protection? Microsoft Defender Antivirus is conspicuously hassle-free. You also get general health reports about your system. Core anti-malware components include real-time protection and on-demand scans covering everything from quickly checking a folder, to a comprehensive offline scan that checks for hard-to-remove threats such as rootkits by scanning the system without booting into Windows.
A dedicated webcam defence module would be a welcome addition. Everyone gets 5GB of storage by default, but long-time OneDrive users, as well as subscribers to services such as Microsoft , may have more.
You want hassle-free protection: Defender outperforms most free and paid-for rivals, with more features than many. Microsoft Defender is an incredibly good, hassle-free anti-virus. However, there are still use cases for other antivirus suites — just about. We use every antivirus software ourselves, so we can check out the various features.
You will, however, get extra features be spending money elsewhere. Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. And there you have it. It's like getting frisked twice as you walk into the post office; Microsoft makes the process of downloading and installing unpleasant for such a pithy application.
Interface The final release of Windows Defender didn't wow us with its design. The interface looks as though some coder realized they needed a front end to go with the program and slapped together some buttons, a dropdown menu, and a few other goodies. More advanced users won't care; the interface is clean and relatively well-organized. But there's a lot of unused white space and small type.
There's also an enhanced scanning engine, a new interface, and protection for non-administrator users on your system. As for specific features, advanced users will appreciate these more than the casual user. The Windows Defender History feature acts like HijackThis, logging changes made to the system registry. The difference is that HiJackThis provides a snapshot; Windows Defender provides a running log of all system changes.
The Tools page is Defender's catch-all page. Under Options, you'll find automatic scanning, default actions, real-time protection options, advanced options, and administrator options.
Most users will not need to change these settings. Please tell us what we can improve This field is required. About the Author Sophie Anderson Cybersecurity researcher and tech journalist. About the Author Sophie Anderson has spent the last 10 years working as a software engineer for some of the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley.
Share this Review 0. Check the top 3 alternative antivirus programs 9. Windows Defender User Reviews 26 Show first. English 9. Spanish 7. Italian 5. Polish 5. Dutch 4. Portuguese 4. Russian 2. Arabic 1. German 1. Hebrew 1. Swedish 1. You can trust the Community! Companies can't ask us to delete or change user reviews. Was it helpful? Great Antivirus. Windows Defender is great. I actually had an experience getting malware on the system.
McAfee, Norton, and Windows Defender detected it. Windows Defender was successfully able to move the malware to quarantine, and I was impressed. Reply Share. Best free antivirus. Chris Cummings. Does a decent job. It is FREE. Easy to use and configure. It is There already.
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