14 DAY TRIAL // AV-Comparatives unveiled 2016’s best antivirus products earlier today, and the organization also discussed the performance of Windows Defender, the built-in Windows 10 antivirus that’s installed by default in the operating system.
Microsoft is putting a lot of effort into Windows Defender, but although it’s obvious that the antivirus is evolving, it still provides basic protection to users when compared to third-party antivirus solutions on the market.
The chart you can see here provides a look at Windows Defender’s performance in the 2016 tests conducted by AV-Comparatives, and Microsoft’s antivirus is once again the last in the top, with “standard” performance in file detection, performance, and real-world protection. Better performance, however, was experienced in the malware removal tests, but it’s far behind third-party products like Kaspersky and Bitdefender.
AV-Comparatives, however, praised the antivirus, explaining that it comes with the essential feature package that you should find in an advanced security product these days.
“Windows Defender for Windows 10 has all the essential features of a good antivirus program in a very clear, simple interface,” the organization says.
The future of Windows Defender
Windows Defender is evolving even further with the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update, and Microsoft is pushing the antivirus to a more advanced product with a new name - Windows Defender Security Center - and more features, including parental controls.
What Microsoft is trying to do with the Creators Update is group all security features available in Windows into just a single app for easy access. As a result, Windows Defender will be more than just an antivirus, but it will continue offering scanning and malware removal options too.
Windows Defender will play nice with third-party products and will always be there on the system, and users can enable the app to automatically scan the system even when a different antivirus is installed. This way, they can make sure that no malware reaches user data, thus providing a secondary security layer on all systems.
