These last years, Windows Defender has undeniably become one of best antivirus of the market. However, according to a recent study, it seems that Microsoft’s software has some offline security flaws…
Indeed, the AV-Comparatives group conducted some research which led to not very satisfactory results for the famous antivirus from the Redmond firm.
A study comparing antivirus
Microsoft Defender is today very famous for its reliability. But well beyond its excellent reputation, it is above all a free antivirus, ultimately having very little to envy to many paid solutions. In recent weeks, Windows Defender has also strengthened its security and offered a more advanced shield.
However, a study carried out last March by AV-Comparatives, an organization whose role is to test and evaluate antivirus software, has just revealed some interesting results. Indeed, if Microsoft’s antivirus meets very good results overall, the latter shows on the other hand some weaknesses with regard to its ability to protect users in offline mode.
Microsoft Defender: offline protection that leaves something to be desired
Avast, McAfee, Bitdefender or even Norton… The most popular antiviruses available on the market have been thoroughly tested in this new study conducted by AV-Comparatives. And for this battery of tests, the organization was responsible for observing, on a sample of 10,040 malicious software, how the various antiviruses were doing in online mode but also in offline mode.
If the results of Microsoft Defender are excellent in terms of protection with an internet connection, the antivirus performs among the worst performances of the list in offline mode. Indeed, the software of the American giant reaches a detection rate of 60.3% in offline mode, where G DATA reaches a score of 98.8%. Total Defense, VIPRE and Bitdefender antiviruses all reach a rate of 97.8%. Thus, Defender becomes the third worst antivirus solution in the ranking, ahead of Panda and Trend Micro.
Among the tests carried out in this study, and in order to offer the most representative results, AV-Comparatives has grouped together variants of malware that generally put users at risk. What’s more, the organization not only tested the ability of antiviruses to detect threats, but also measured their ability to prevent a malicious program from making changes to the system.
Anyway, these results for Windows Defender show us that Microsoft’s antivirus relies mainly on the cloud, and that it struggles when it comes to protection without an internet connection. Finally, note that these tests were carried out from devices running Windows 10 (64-bit).
To download
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- Efficient and discreet latest generation detection engine
- Integration in Windows 10
- firewall
Increasingly powerful and complete, Microsoft Windows Defender is now a reliable antivirus for Windows 10. If the publisher decides to add a sandbox and extend its SmartScreen anti-phishing technology to all browsers, it could well start to seriously overshadow paid solutions.
Increasingly powerful and complete, Microsoft Windows Defender is now a reliable antivirus for Windows 10. If the publisher decides to add a sandbox and extend its SmartScreen anti-phishing technology to all browsers, it could well start to seriously overshadow paid solutions.
Source : Neowin
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