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You also get general health reports about your system.
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In most cases, it will automatically activate when you uninstall any third-party anti-malware solution you may be using, although this is always worth checking in case your previous software doesn’t uninstall cleanly.Īccessible through the Windows Security interface, Microsoft Defender Antivirus has multiple components including the ubiquitous Windows Firewall, parental controls and remote management of your family’s devices, reputation-based site blocking in Edge, and application blocking in general.
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It comes installed and active on every fresh Windows deployment, so you don’t need to worry about setting anything up. Microsoft Defender Antivirus is conspicuously hassle-free. I was pleased to see that Defender appeared in AV Comparatives’ latest real-time malware defence tests, where it blocked 99.7% of malware again and scored no false positives. The SE Labs team found that Defender gave no false identifications of legitimate software as potential threats. In SE Labs’ latest test, it fell just short with a 98% protection rating – it detected 100% of malware, but failed to prevent one virus from getting on the test system. The sheer volume of malware and potentially unwanted programs that Windows systems encounter and report back about gives Microsoft a huge pool of data to help identify and protect against active malware threats.īut how does it compare to the other best free antivirus options out there, and should you look elsewhere for protection? Malware detection performanceĪs usual, Microsoft Defender Antivirus achieved perfect 100% protection scores in AV-Test’s most recent real-time and reference malware detection tests, with just one false positive. Microsoft Defender Antivirus, completely free and fully integrated into Windows 10 and 11, has gone from strength to strength to become the most consistently reliable antivirus suites around. Cloud backups Cloud backups can be used to protect critical files.
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Parental controls Provides content filtering, app restrictions, and time limits for younger members of the household.Per-folder ransomware protection Select specific folders to be protected against unauthorised changes.Gaming mode Notifications can be disabled to make Microsoft Defender run silently.
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