Windows 10: Should I use McAfee antivirus program or Windows Defender? Discus and support Should I use McAfee antivirus program or Windows Defender? In AntiVirus, Firewalls and System Security to solve the problem; I don't know what Windows Defender is about so I bought McAfee antivirus program. Similarly, the decision can be a little tricky when choosing between the two most trusted antivirus programs, McAfee and Windows Defender. McAfee, considering its long running history, is a powerful contender in the security business and one of the most trusted as well. Windows Defender — recently renamed as Windows Defender Security Center — is the antivirus that comes built-in into Windows 8/8.1/10 and into Windows 7 as Microsoft Security Essentials. Unlike other antivirus companies that offer a diverse range of antivirus suites, Microsoft only offers a free version of Window Defender. Nov 30, 2017  Defender vs McAfee When I bought my newest computer Win 10, it came with McAfee installed and a recommendation to use it over any other. It's time to renew McAfee, if I choose to do so. Internet searches respond with not-so-useful results. And Windows Defender is a free antivirus, Thank you for posting such a good Review!

• Windows Defender Antivirus
• Is Windows Defender Enough Protection
• Windows Defender Antivirus Update
• Windows Defender Antivirus And Mcafee Virusscan Enterprise Are Both Turned Off

• Pros

  Built into Windows 10. Good lab scores. Excellent hands-on malware protection score. Simple ransomware protection. Always on if no other antivirus is present.

• Cons

  Poor results in phishing protection test. Awkward scan scheduling. SmartScreen Filter works only in Microsoft browsers.

• Bottom Line

  Microsoft Windows Defender Security Center protects Windows 10 PCs that have no other antivirus protection, and it has significantly improved in lab test results and our own hands-on tests.

Microsoft has included antivirus protection in its operating systems for ages, going all the way back to DOS. The modern-day Microsoft Windows Defender Security Center protects against Trojans, viruses, ransomware, and other types of malware, but it also manages your security overall. It's always active on systems that have no other antivirus installed. If you install a third-party security solution, Windows Defender's antivirus component goes dormant, to avoid any conflict. We salute Microsoft for ensuring that all users have at least some degree of antivirus protection. Our latest testing suggests that Defender does a good job.

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Windows Defender differs from other free antivirus tools in that there's no installation required; it's already present. When you click the Defender icon in the notification area, it opens the full Windows Defender Security Center. The main window's home screen reports security status, and offers six additional feature pages, accessed by clicking large icons across the bottom or small icons in the left rail menu. I'll go into detail about these pages below.

In addition to the expected Quick, Full, and Custom scan options, Windows Defender offers what it calls Offline Scan. Designed to handle persistent malware that doesn't yield to a normal scan, this scan reboots the system and runs before Windows fully loads. That also means it runs before any malware processes load, so the malware is defenseless. If you feel that you still have a malware problem after a regular scan, give the offline scan a try.

Lab Results Improving

Some years ago, Windows Defender routinely earned truly awful scores from the independent testing labs, coming in below zero at times. It's been improving steadily, at least with some of the four testing labs that I follow, and its scores now range from so-so to perfect.

Security experts at AV-Test Institute rate antivirus programs on three criteria, Protection, Performance, and Usability. The antivirus can earn up to six points for each of these. For certification, a product needs a total of 10 points and no zeroes. In the latest report, Windows Defender got 6.0 points in all three categories, for an impressive total of 18 points. This is the first time I've seen Microsoft reach that top score.

F-Secure, Kaspersky, and Symantec Norton AntiVirus Plus also took 18 points in the latest test. Among free products. Avast and AVG took 17.5 points.

London-based SE Labs awards five levels of certification, AAA, AA, A, B, and C. Along with Avira Antivirus, ESET, Kaspersky, Norton, and Trend Micro, Windows Defender earned AAA certification in the latest test. Avast and AVG, among others, came close, with AA certification.

Antivirus products don't get a numeric score or grade from the researchers at AV-Comparatives. A product that passes the test gets Standard certification; one that doesn't pass gets the label Tested. Those that do more than the minimum can rate Advanced or Advanced+. I follow four of this lab's many tests, and Microsoft appears in the latest report for three of those. Windows Defender earned one Standard certification, one Advanced, and one Advanced+. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is the only product to take Advanced+ in the latest runs of all four tests.

British testing firm MRG-Effitas runs two tests that I track. One is a pass/fail test that challenges antivirus products to defend against attacks on online banking. In the latest banking protection test, half the tested products failed, Windows Defender among them.

The other test from this lab measures defense against a full spectrum of malware types. In this test, a product that completely prevents all the malware attacks earns Level 1 certification. A product that remediates the attacks within 24 hours gets Level 2 certification. In the latest test, all products, Windows Defender included, reached level 1 certification.

Each lab uses its own scoring system. I've devised an algorithm that maps them all to a 10-point scale and generates an aggregate score. The current aggregate score for Windows Defender is 9.1, a big jump from 7.2 at my last review. Also tested by all four labs, Kaspersky scored 9.9, Avira 9.7, and Norton 9.3. Avast Free Antivirus came in slightly below Microsoft, with 9.0 points.

In a recent press release, Microsoft made much of its recent top score with AV-Test. That release caught enough attention that I decided to look at previous results from the last three years. Bitdefender and Kaspersky both averaged more than 17.5 points, while Windows Defender averaged 15.5, with scores ranging from a barely-passing 13.0 to 17.5 points. In three years of tests by AV-Comparatives, Bitdefender and Kaspersky took nothing but Advanced+ certifications. Microsoft didn't reach Advanced+ at all, earned about as many Advanced as Standard certifications, and failed three tests completely. I'm impressed by Microsoft's recent success, but I'll be even more impressed if those high scores prove to be the new normal.

Excellent Hands-On Test Results

If you don't have any other form of malware protection, or your antivirus expires, Windows Defender steps in and does its best to keep you safe. To get an idea of its effectiveness, I challenged it to protect my test system against a collection of various types of malware. I made sure to configure it to detect lower-risk items, such as adware and potentially unwanted programs, or PUPs. I also enabled the permission-based ransomware protection.

To start my hands-on testing, I open a folder containing my current set of malware samples. Windows Defender didn't do anything right away, so I moved the samples to another folder. That got its attention, but in a strange way. It didn't eliminate any files, but it prevented me from moving or even deleting samples that it identified as malware. In addition, it didn't catch them all at once, so I had to repeat the process of moving files until I came up with a group that Windows Defender immediately detect. The others, 63 percent of the collection, weren't gone from the system, but they were neutralized.

I took the remaining samples and launched them one by one, noting how Windows Defender reacted. It caught almost all the remaining samples at this point, detecting 98 percent of them one way or another. Only Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus detected more, with a perfect 100 percent.

Note, though, that Webroot lost some points for not blocking every trace of every detected threat. It scored 9.7 of 10 possible points, the same score Norton achieved with my previous sample set. With 9.8 points, Windows Defender has the new high score. That's a big improvement from last year's hands-on test, in which it scored 8.0 points.

Looking specifically at free products, Avast Free Antivirus managed 9.2 points against the same set of samples. Kaspersky Security Cloud Free scored significantly lower, but for whatever reason Kaspersky routinely scores at the top in the independent lab tests, lower in our hands-on tests.

My malicious URL blocking test uses the newest malware-hosting URLs I can find, typically no older than a couple days. I launch each URL and note whether the antivirus blocks all access to the page, eliminates the downloaded malware, or does nothing at all. Technically, SmartScreen Filter provides this protection, both for Edge and Internet Explorer, but Windows Defender manages SmartScreen Filter. It's worth noting that most competing products apply malicious download protection to all popular browsers, while Microsoft only protects its own.

Out of 100 malware-hosting URLs, Windows Defender blocked access to 18 percent at the URL level, and prevented download of the malware payload for another 79 percent. It did the latter in two ways. For about three quarters of the files, SmartScreen warned of an unsafe download, stopping it at the source. For the other quarter, the real-time antivirus wiped out the file immediately after download.

Trend Micro currently holds the top score in this test, with 99 percent protection. Windows Defender's 97 percent puts it in a three-way tie for second place, joining McAfee and Sophos Home Free.

A full antivirus scan of a clean test system with Windows Defender took just short of two hours, a good bit more than the current average of 75 minutes. A repeat scan matched the average. Kaspersky came in a bit below that average for its initial scan. It used the first scan to note safe files requiring no further scanning, which allowed the second scan to run in less than five minutes.

It's true that after that initial full scan, real-time protection should handle any new attacks. However, many users like to schedule an occasional full scan for added security. You won't find that functionality in Windows Defender, though. If you want to schedule a scan, you'll have to dig into the unwieldy, threatening Task Scheduler app. Most competing products make scheduling scans much, much easier.

Not So Good Phishing Protection

Phishing websites don't bother infecting your PC with malware. Instead, they try to fool you into giving up your login credentials for your email provider, banking website, even dating and gaming sites. They do so by creating a page that looks exactly like the real thing, hoping you don't notice that the URL in the Address Bar is wrong. These sites get blacklisted and shut down quickly, but the fraudsters just gin up new ones.

To test phishing protection, I gather reported phishing URLs from various websites. I favor those so new they haven't yet been analyzed and blacklisted. Anybody can block blacklisted sites, after all. A real antiphishing solution needs the ability to detect frauds in real time. In addition to reporting the product's detection rate for verified phishing pages, I compare its rate to that of the phishing protection built into Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. In this case, the product in question is SmartScreen Filter, managed by Windows Defender for Microsoft Edge, so I only had to compare Edge with the other two browsers.

In truth, I didn't need new testing for Edge's SmartScreen Filter. I switched all my virtual machine testbeds to Windows 10 earlier this year, and started using Edge in testing. That means I already had eight sets of data, detection percentages for Edge, Chrome, and Firefox. I simply averaged those to get a score for Windows Defender.

The results don't look good. Edge detected and warned about just 68 percent of the verified phishing sites, compared to 90 percent and 89 percent for Firefox and Chrome. That puts it in the bottom half of current products, and the best of them score vastly better. At the top, Kaspersky and McAfee AntiVirus Plus detected 100 percent of the frauds in their respective tests. Bitdefender and Trend Micro came very close, with 99 percent. A dozen products scored better than 90 percent.

In most cases where free and premium editions both exist, they score the same in my tests. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition is an exception. It doesn't have the full antiphishing power of its premium cousin, and hence scored just 91 percent. It also scored lower in my hands-on malware protection tests.

Microsoft did much better when last tested against phishing frauds, with 85 percent detection. However, I've observed that the detection rate for SmartScreen Filter, whether in Edge or Internet Explorer, tends to vary quite a bit. In the last eight tests, it ranged from 57 percent to 85 percent.

Simple Ransomware Protection

Buried in the antivirus settings is a hidden gem that offers a degree of ransomware protection. It's turned off by default. Scroll down to 'Controlled folder access' and turn it on. By default, it protects your Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, and Favorites folders.

New since my last review, it also protects the Desktop, an addition I found annoying. I have a habit of dropping test programs on the desktop and running them from there. Windows Defender prevented my programs from writing to their output files. I also found that it squawked at any installer that tried to place a program icon on the desktop. If I were relying on this feature for protection, I'd probably remove Desktop from the list of protected folders.

To test this feature, I tried to edit a text file in the Documents folder using a tiny text editor I wrote myself. When I tried to save, I got a message, 'Stream write error,' and a popup from Windows Defender noting that it prevented the change. It also prevented my simple-minded ransomware simulator from modifying text files in the Documents folder.

The similar feature in Bitdefender, Trend Micro, and Panda Free Antivirus lets you extend trust to an unrecognized program directly from the popup warning. With Windows Defender, that's not an option. To add an exception for a valid program you must dig into the settings.

Security Center

There's a reason they call this utility Windows Defender Security Center. In addition to providing protection against malware, it serves as a central location to manage other security features. Clicking the icons at the left side of the main window brings up pages of security information and settings.

I've already covered features of the Virus & threat protection page. The Account protection page links to system settings related to your Microsoft account, including Windows Hello for logging in and the optional Dynamic lock, which locks the PC when a paired device isn't nearby.

Windows Defender Antivirus

From the Firewall & Network Protection page, you can check the status of Windows Firewall and perform simple tasks like allowing an app through the firewall. It also offers quick access to network troubleshooting and firewall configuration. Windows Firewall is effective enough that you may not need a third-party firewall.

You use the App & Browser Control page to configure aspects of SmartScreen Filter. By default, it warns if you download dangerous files or venture to dangerous websites. You can set it to block without warning, or—bad idea—turn off protection. SmartScreen also checks web content used by Windows Store apps. Expert users can dig in to configure exploit prevention technologies including CFG, DEP, and ASLR. If you don't already know what those abbreviations stand for, you're not qualified to meddle with the settings. Likewise, most users probably won't grasp details of the information displayed on the Device Security page.

The Device Performance & Health page includes checks for any issues with Windows update, storage capacity, and device drivers, offering help to resolve any detected issues. On this page, you can also click for a 'fresh start,' a full reinstallation of Windows that retains your documents and some settings, and restores your Windows Store apps. However, it warns that the process wipes out desktop apps, including Microsoft Office and third-party antivirus.

The final page, Family options, tracks the parental control options built into Windows 10. Parental control features include content filtering, screen time control, and limiting kids to age-appropriate apps, as well as locating the children's mobile devices. However, it works only on Windows and only in Microsoft browsers. It's of little use in this modern multi-platform world. Certainly, it can't compare with the best third-party parental control software.

A Capable Defender

Making sure that every Windows 10 PC has at least some degree of antivirus protection is a good move on Microsoft's part. We used to say Windows Defender is better than nothing. At present, we're willing to say it's pretty darn good. Some of its lab test scores are excellent now, though it took a while to reach this point. Note that Defender's developers have maintained for years that those lab tests are irrelevant, because their own extensive telemetry indicates successful protection of their users. It earned a great score in our hands-on malware protection test, but didn't do so well at detecting phishing frauds.

The very best free antivirus utilities give you even more protection, and they earn great scores from the independent testing labs. Avast Free Antivirus and Kaspersky Security Cloud Free are our Editors' Choice products for free antivirus protection. Kaspersky consistently gets perfect or near-perfect lab scores. Avast comes with a network inspector, a password manager, and a passel of security bonus features. You're free to try these two, or any of our other top-rated free antivirus tools, and choose the one that suits you best. If Windows Defender suits you best, go ahead and run with it.

Microsoft Windows Defender Security Center

Bottom Line: Microsoft Windows Defender Security Center protects Windows 10 PCs that have no other antivirus protection, and it has significantly improved in lab test results and our own hands-on tests.

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Is Windows Defender Enough Protection

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Windows 10 won’t hassle you to install an antivirus like Windows 7 did. Since Windows 8, Windows now includes a built-in free antivirus called Windows Defender. But is it really the best for protecting your PC–or even just good enough?

Windows Defender was originally known as Microsoft Security Essentials back in the Windows 7 days when it was offered as a separate download, but now it’s built right into Windows and it’s enabled by default. Many people have been trained to believe that you should always install a third-party antivirus, but that isn’t the best solution for today’s security problems, like ransomware.

So What’s the Best Antivirus? Please Don’t Make Me Read All This

We definitely recommend you read the entire article so you fully understand why we recommend a combination of Windows Defender andMalwarebytes, but since we know that tons of people will just scroll down and skim, here is our TL;DR recommendation for how to keep your system secure:

• Use the Built-in Windows Defender for traditional antivirus – the criminals have moved on from regular viruses to focus on Ransomware, zero-day attacks, and even worse malware that traditional antivirus just can’t handle. Windows Defender is built right in, blazing fast, doesn’t annoy you, and does its job cleaning old-school viruses.
• Use Malwarebytes for Anti-Malware and Anti-Exploit – all of the huge malware outbreaks these days are using zero-day flaws in your browser to install ransomware to take over your PC, and only Malwarebytes provides really excellent protection against this with their unique anti-exploit system. There’s no bloatware and it won’t slow you down.

Editor’s Note: This doesn’t even mention the fact that Malwarebytes, the company, is staffed by some really great people that we really respect. Every time we talk to them, they are excited about the mission of cleaning up the internet. It’s not often that we give an official How-To Geek recommendation, but this is our favorite product by far, and something we use ourselves.

A One-Two Punch: Antivirus and Anti-Malware

You need antivirus software on your computer, no matter how “carefully” you browse. Being smart isn’t enough to protect you from threats, and security software can help act as another line of defense.

However, antivirus itself is no longer adequate security on its own. We recommend you use a good antivirus program and a good anti-malware program. Together, they will protect you from most of the biggest threats on the internet today: viruses, spyware, ransomware, and even potentially unwanted programs (PUPs)—among many others.

So which ones should you use, and do you need to pay money for them? Let’s start with the first part of that combo: antivirus.

Is Windows Defender Good Enough?

When you install Windows 10, you’ll have an antivirus program already running. Windows Defender comes built-in to Windows 10, and automatically scans programs you open, downloads new definitions from Windows Update, and provides an interface you can use for in-depth scans. Best of all, it doesn’t slow down your system, and mostly stays out of your way—which we can’t say about most other antivirus programs.

RELATED:Do I Really Need Antivirus If I Browse Carefully and Use Common Sense?

For a short while, Microsoft’s antivirus fell behind the others when it came to comparative antivirus software tests—way behind. It was bad enough that we recommended something else, but it’s since bounced back, and now provides very good protection.

So in short, yes: Windows Defender is good enough (as long as you couple it with a good anti-malware program, as we mentioned above—more on that in a minute).

But Is Windows Defender the Best Antivirus? What About Other Programs?

If you look at that antivirus comparison we linked to above, you’ll notice that Windows Defender, while good, does not get the highest ranks in terms of raw protection scores. So why not use something else?

First, let’s look at those scores. AV-TEST found that it still caught 99.9% of the “widespread and prevalent malware” in April 2017, along with 98.8% percent of the zero-day attacks. Avira, one of AV-TEST’s top rated antivirus programs, has the exact same scores for April—but slightly higher scores in past months, so its overall rating is (for some reason) much higher. But Windows Defender isn’t nearly as crippled as AV-TEST’s 4.5-out-of-6 rating would have you believe.

Completely free. Shareware for free. Pressure sensitivity support. Easy to use.Cons:.

RELATED:Beware: Free Antivirus Isn’t Really Free Anymore

Furthermore, security is about more than raw protection scores. Other antivirus programs may occasionally do a bit better in monthly tests, but they also come with a lot of bloat, like browser extensions that actually make you less safe, registry cleaners that are terrible and unnecesary, loads of unsafe junkware, and even the ability to track your browsing habits so they can make money. Furthermore, the way they hook themselves into your browser and operating system often causes more problems than it solves. Something that protects you against viruses but opens you up to other vectors of attack is not good security.

Windows Defender does not do any of these things—it does one thing well, for free, and without getting in your way. Plus, Windows 10 already includes the various other protections introduced in Windows 8, like the SmartScreen filter that should prevent you from downloading and running malware, whatever antivirus you use. Chrome and Firefox, similarly, include Google’s Safe Browsing, which blocks many malware downloads.

If you hate Windows Defender for some reason and want to use another antivirus, you can use Avira. It has a free version that works fairly well, a pro version with a few extra features, and it provides great protection scores and only has the occasional popup ad (but it does have popup ads, which are annoying). The biggest problem is that you need to be sure to uninstall the browser extension it tries to force on you, which makes it hard to recommend to non-technical people.

Antivirus Isn’t Enough: Use Malwarebytes, Too

Antivirus is important, but these days, it’s more important that you use a good anti-exploit program to protect your web browser and plug-ins, which are the most targeted by attackers. Malwarebytes is the program we recommend here.

Unlike traditional antivirus programs, Malwarebytes is good at finding “potentially unwanted programs” (PUPs) and other junkware. As of version 3.0, it also contains an anti-exploit feature, which aims to block common exploits in programs, even if they are zero-day attacks that have never seen before—like those nasty Flash zero-day attacks. It also contains anti-ransomware, to block extortion attacks like CryptoLocker. The latest version of Malwarebytes combines these three tools into one easy-to-use package for $40 per year.

Windows Defender Antivirus Update

Malwarebytes claims to be able to replace your traditional antivirus entirely, but we disagree with this. It uses completely different strategies for protecting you: antivirus will block or quarantine harmful programs that find their way to your computer, while Malwarebytes attempts to stop harmful software from ever reaching your computer in the first place. Since it doesn’t interfere with traditional antivirus programs, we recommend you run both programs for the best protection.

Note that you can get some of Malwarebytes’ features for free, but with caveats. For example, the free version of Malwarebytes program will only scan for malware and PUPs on-demand—it won’t scan in the background like the premium version does. In addition, it doesn’t contain the anti-exploit or anti-ransomware features of the premium version.

Windows Defender Antivirus And Mcafee Virusscan Enterprise Are Both Turned Off

You can only get all three features in the full $40 version of Malwarebytes, which we recommend. But if you’re willing to forego anti-ransomware and always-on malware scanning, the free versions of Malwarebytes and Anti-Exploit are better than nothing, and you should definitely use them.

There you have it: with a combination of a good antivirus program, Malwarebytes, and some common sense, you’ll be pretty well protected. Just remember that antivirus is only one of the standard computer security practices you should be following. Good digital hygiene isn’t a replacement for antivirus, but it is essential to making sure your antivirus can do its job.

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