Can Windows Defender alone protect your computer?

In a world where there are so many free antivirus programs, it can be difficult to choose one. One of them, Windows Defender, comes with all Windows-based computers without you having to make any selection. But how does it perform compared to its competitors? Is Windows Defender alone enough to protect your computer?

Windows Defender comes free with the Windows operating system. If you haven’t installed a third-party antivirus on your computer, there’s a good chance that Windows Defender is currently keeping your computer safe.

In the past, the antivirus services offered by Microsoft were subpar and people recommended downloading a third-party antivirus app instead. But in recent years, Microsoft has turned Windows Defender into a serious competitor in the antivirus field. Some people even say that you don’t need any other security software on your computer.

So how good is Windows Defender? Fortunately, you don’t need to download every antivirus and manually test how well it protects your computer. Research companies specializing in antivirus constantly share data with the public about which software is the best.

AV-Test, one of the leading companies in this field, has been testing Windows antivirus software for a long time and puts each of them through rigorous tests to determine which ones are suitable for your computer. At the time of this writing, the most current AV-Test report for Windows Defender is dated December 2023. According to this report, Windows Defender reveals extremely impressive figures.

What truly tests an antivirus is how good it is at detecting and stopping zero-day vulnerabilities. While the industry average catches 97.6 percent of all zero-day attacks, Windows Defender managed to detect every one of them. It also has a very successful track record in protecting computers from previously known viruses.

On the other hand, if it causes performance problems on your computer, no matter how good antivirus software is, it will not be of much use to you. Fortunately, Windows Defender manages to stay below industry averages in terms of performance issues. The only downside is that it controls the installation of known applications, which is not a big deal.

Windows Defender also has a good performance when it comes to false positives. This means Windows Defender won’t mistakenly flag a legitimate app as a virus or prevent you from visiting a safe website.

One of the biggest complaints people have about Windows Defender is its user interface, which isn’t as intuitive as other third-party apps. However, you can use DefenderUI to tweak Windows Defender the way you want.

In short, if you are looking for a safe antivirus program, it would not be wrong to trust Windows Defender. Gone are the days when the first thing you did on a new computer was to download a third-party antivirus; You can now use your computer with Windows Defender and get high-level protection.

But this does not mean that all third-party antivirus applications are useless. Different apps have different features, so you can also do detailed research to find the one that best suits your needs.