It’s a well behaved antivirus, he says in a tweet

Feb 1, 2017 14:18 GMT  ·  By

A never-ending online dispute puts antivirus vendors against software companies working on browsers, with some experts claiming that security products often slow down or even make programs completely unusable on Windows systems.

At first glance, Microsoft seems to be the big winner in this scandal, as most people blaming security vendors for breaking down PC applications are also praising the Redmond-based software giant for developing an antivirus solution that works correctly and gets along very well with the other solutions running on a computer.

This is the case of Justin Schuh, who is a Google Chrome engineer focused on security and desktop platforms. Schuh said in a tweet that Windows Defender is actually a well-behaved antivirus that plays well with other software solutions, explaining that all the other security products impacted Chrome performance in one way or another.

“Browser makers don't complain about Microsoft Defender because we have tons of empirical data showing that it's the only well behaved AV,” he said in a tweet a few hours ago.

“Defender is the only one I know of that hasn't broken Chrome's security mechanisms,” he continued, praising Windows Defender for working correctly with third-party software.

Microsoft and security efforts

Truth be told, Microsoft itself is investing a lot of effort into getting Windows Defender right, and the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update will bring several improvements in this regard. Windows Defender will evolve to Windows Defender Security Center, and it will include not only malware detection and removal features but also a number of other tools such as parental controls and PC optimization utilities.

At the same time, the Redmond-based software giant is also working on improving security at an operating system level, with the company aiming to block zero-day exploits and other types of threats, including some forms of ransomware, even when no antivirus is installed.

In the meantime, Windows Defender is becoming more of a security product that seems to be the logical option for Windows 10 users, especially when taking into account this long-distance war between software companies and antivirus vendors.