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Is Windows Defender Good Enough? Not Yet

One of the most common questions we get asked at Tom'south Guide is "Is Windows Defender good enough to protect my PC?"

The short reply is: Nope. The longer answer is: No, only it might exist anytime.

Microsoft'due south built-in antivirus software isn't meant to compete with total-fledged, commercially distributed antivirus software. Instead, when information technology was start congenital into Windows 8 in 2012, Windows Defender was intended equally a stopgap, a minimum level of defense for the millions of Windows users who hadn't installed whatever antivirus software on Windows XP, Vista or 7.

The problem with Windows Defender is that its malware detection, to put information technology plainly, sucks. In lab tests conducted since the beginning of 2013, it'southward stopped about 89 percent of widespread, well-known malware, and nigh 78 percentage of previously unknown "zero-solar day" malware.

The problem with Windows Defender is that its malware detection, to put information technology plainly, sucks.

Because what matters isn't how much malware is stopped, but how much gets through, a detection charge per unit just under 90 percent isn't a B plus — information technology's an F.

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Almost other products we review, gratuitous or paid, stop better than 95 percent of zilch-day malware, and 98 or 99 percent of widespread malware. Our best-reviewed products, Avira Free Antivirus and Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, have detection engines that consistently end betwixt 99 and 100 percent of both categories of malware.

That doesn't hateful Windows Defender isn't getting better than it once was. Information technology is — slowly. In evaluations conducted on Windows 8.1 in November 2015 by German independent lab AV-TEST, Windows Defender detected 97.5 per centum of zero-day malware, and 99.6 percent of widespread malware.

Merely Windows Defender'due south detection rates are consistently inconsistent. In December 2015, its Windows 8.1 naught-day-detection charge per unit slipped to ninety percent. In earlier tests conducted on Windows 10 past AV-Test, Windows Defender stopped 80.five of zero-day malware in September 2015, and 95 percent the following calendar month. (To be fair, information technology stopped betwixt 99.1 and 99.ix percent of widespread malware in all three instances.)

Yet, those erratic numbers are a vast comeback from 2013 and 2014, when Windows Defender was scoring about 65 percent against aught-solar day malware, and about seventy percent for widespread malware. Things may be looking upward for Microsoft'southward free AV software.

The Long Route to Microsoft Self-Protection

Windows Defender isn't Microsoft's start foray into the antivirus puddle. The company had earlier failed with a paid production, Windows Alive OneCare, that was discontinued in 2009. OneCare was replaced with Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), a free download for Windows XP, Windows Vista and the then-new Windows 7.

Information technology was MSE, not Windows Defender, that made established antivirus companies weep foul and threaten to mutter to antitrust regulators. And so they had a look at the software and breathed sighs of relief.

Microsoft Security Essentials turned out to not be half as adept as even the all-time costless 3rd-party antivirus product — and Windows Defender is simply a rebranded version of MSE for Windows viii and subsequently. (To be precise, the later Windows Defender incorporates both the active-defense MSE and the earlier Windows Defender, a mail-infection malware-cleanup tool.)

MSE is still around, protecting countless Windows 7 and Windows Vista machines. Unlike Windows Defender, it must be downloaded and installed manually, although its malware definitions are automatically updated. (The most recent versions don't support Windows XP.)

None of this is to say that Windows Defender is terrible; it'due south better than nothing.

As with Windows Defender, MSE's detection rates are all over the place. They bottomed out at the end of 2014, when the software caught 49 percent of nix-day malware in November (co-ordinate to AV-Test), and 72 percent of widespead malware in December. MSE peaked in January 2016, when it stopped 91.viii percent of the zero-twenty-four hours bugs and 99.7 of the widespread ones. (Both rates dropped the following month.)

The Many Moods of Windows Defender

Windows Defender does have its advantages. It doesn't require whatever installation, is well integrated into Windows, isn't terribly hard to use and has minimal organization touch while running in the groundwork. Like other antivirus products, it works by matching files with known malware, analyzing the behavior and lawmaking of unknown files and collecting new samples from its users.

Simply Windows Defender also has a heavy system impact during agile scans, can be hard to configure beyond the default settings and doesn't stop not-Microsoft web browsers — anything other than Internet Explorer and Edge — from visiting malicious websites.

Virtually paid antivirus products, and many gratis ones, piece of work with Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, besides as Internet Explorer, to screen out harmful URLs. Most have lighter arrangement loads than Windows Defender during full and quick scans. And many paid ones come up with extra features that you'd otherwise have to buy separately, such as password managers, system optimizers or online backup storage.

None of this is to say that Windows Defender is terrible. Every bit a last-ditch defense, information technology'south better than nada, which is what many people had before Windows 8 was introduced. But in that location are far ameliorate means to protect your PC, whether you desire to spend coin or not.

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Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy. He has as well been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting around in the information-security infinite for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom's Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown upwards in random Goggle box news spots and even moderated a panel discussion at the CEDIA home-technology briefing. Yous can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.