Is Windows Defender Good Enough in 2024? | Overview, tests, and alternatives!

Windows Defender or Windows security comes free with any Windows OS promising to keep your device safe but you know how it goes with built-in apps they tend to be bad or simply too basic and with ever increasing online threat complexity basic won't do so let's find out is Windows Defender good enough for 2024 in my updated Windows Defender review I mean security okay let's sort this whole name thing out first Windows security started its life as a free anti-spyware program in the ancient times of Windows XP then it evolved into a built-in Security Suite so Windows security is a free and updated built-in version of Windows Defender however there's also a product called Microsoft Defender yes they literally could have used any other product title but I guess they didn't have it the sarus Microsoft Defender is a paid feature of the Microsoft 365 package so you can see it referred to as Microsoft 365 Defender sometimes Microsoft Defender is more of an extra layer of online protection including the anti virus itself identity theft monitoring a VPN encrypted storage and other features so now you should understand where the whole confusion on pricing and features comes from we're going to only focus on the free built-in antivirus but if you want a full Microsoft Defender antivirus review hit that like button and leave a comment all right with that out of the way let's see what windows Security offers since windows security is already included in Windows I could say that Microsoft is forcing this antivirus onto users without giving them a choice but it is a free OS with a free antivirus and I'd rather beginners have at least some protection even if it's not the best on top of that Windows security integrates smoothly with most other antivirus tools so along the way I'm going to recommend a few of my best antivirus choices that provide what Windows security lacks to determine how good is Windows Defender we first need to check out independent testing and unsurprisingly they aren't super positive AV comparatives in the latest September test reported that it had bad offline threat detection rates only 77% the online detection was better coming in at 95.8% with five false positives again for a free option which is let's be real most users first antivirus it's okay but whenever your online habits grow your security should too and Windows security can't really catch up luckily providers like Bit Defender Norton Antivirus or total AV always get nearly perfect scores total AV for example had zero false positives in the latest report it pairs up nicely with Windows security since total AV lacks of firewall while Windows has one built in onto my own testing the process was the same as with all other anti viruses placing 10 malware files on my device and running the full system scan after around 10 minutes Windows security managed to catch four out of the 10 malware files of course that's not great if we compare it to Bit Defender or Norton versus versus Windows Defender they constantly catch nine out of 10 files but if we compare it to my previous Windows security test in which it only found one file four is a big Improvement and with it being built in there is another benefit it's not that taxing on the system itself there were a few jumps but the average CPU usage was around 50% so it's not as bad as it used to be which was basically a 20-minute coffee break though to be fair with Alternatives like Norton and total AV implementing Cloud scanning or for optimizing their Tech they can offer similar performance oh I've left my special discount deals for all recommended Alternatives in the description or you can grab Norton with a QR code on the screen if you don't know what to choose I'd recommend going with Norton it basically has everything that window security is missing now as for its setup there really isn't one it's already in Windows OS so you can use it immediately as for the design and functionality it's okay but not the best but definitely cleaner and more understandable than previous versions if we compare the UI with other antiviruses it clearly lacks any sort of animations or visually pleasing effects it can look too simplistic for some but I for one love this approach no fancy animations or other stuff means more responsiveness and better performance in fact my personal Windows device has all animations and visual Improvement turned off I'm all about the smoothest experience you can start a scan or remove malware even if you're a beginner and it's good that it comes already automatically quarantining threats as for the provided info it's great that it shows what specific threat was detected honestly would improve the most in streamlining the UI is the firewall and network protection it was a complex mess in previous versions but now with simple toggle buttons and only basic information displayed even new users can get the hang of it firewall is one of the biggest Pros for window security it's highly customizable and offers strong protection against inbound and outbound traffic threats if you want to go into more advanced set settings and allow certain connections to go through or be blocked entirely you can find them down here I also have to give Microsoft a point for allowing for easy notification management sure you could turn off or minimize some of them before but these settings were mostly buried somewhere now it can be greatly customized with just a few clicks next up there's the classical Windows troubleshooter you can run it if you have any problems and by design it should help you either solve it or at least pinpoint the cause I said should since you probably seen the jokes about the troubleshooter never actually finding any problem even if the computer's currently on fire but it can solve more basic problems and I have to say it proved itself to be a viable tool for beginners there are more useful tools that Windows security has including device health options but it's mostly self-explanatory and I want to focus only on the security aspect Windows security also includes file encryption core isolation and reputation-based protection so safe to say that you shouldn't abandon windows built-in tools just improv protection with an antivirus that can actually fend off all online threats Norton total AV or Bit Defender would all be perfect for this not only are all of these antiviruses great at stopping malware but they also come with a lot of extra features like vpns password managers parental controls and proper customer support yeah sure Windows has countless forums or articles and there's even a built-in knowledge base but when having a real problem a live chat support at your finger tips is a much better option well after looking at Windows defense I mean Windows security it's a decent built-in basic level protection it's better and more optimized than it was before cleaner faster easier to use but when it comes to actually protecting your device it's still way below even the industry average and you don't deserve just average you deserve the best so pack window security with Norton or Bit Defender and you'll have an Unstoppable combo thanks for watching my Microsoft vendor antivirus review till the end once again the discount links for my recommended alternative antiviruses are down below if you've had any good or bad experiences with Windows security leave a comment sharing it oh and you can find our full Norton review and other content by subscribing anyway that's it for today's video and I'll see you later

Channel: CyberNews

Views: 9,764

Keywords: windows defender, windows defender review, is windows defender good enough, microsoft 365 defender, microsoft defender antivirus, how good is windows defender, microsoft defender antivirus review, microsoft defender, norton vs windows defender, norton, norton antivirus, norton review, best antivirus, antivirus, malware, firewall, windows defender vs total av, windows defender vs norton, best antivirus for windows 11, bitdefender, windows defender antivirus, total av, anti virus

Id: iNTiDMjrAGI

Length: 7min 21sec (441 seconds)

Published: Sat May 04 2024