Windows Defender suffers in AV-Comparatives’ latest antivirus comparison. Two weaknesses in particular undermine its score.
The renowned independent organization AV-Comparatives has published its September report on the level of protection of most antiviruses on the market. And Windows Defender does not show its best side.
False positives and offline protection in retreat
While the native Windows antivirus gets very good threat detection and protection scores when the computer is online, that rate drops dramatically when offline. Without an Internet connection, Windows Defender becomes one of the least effective antiviruses in the comparison, along with Panda and Trend Micro. On the contrary, G DATA, VIPRE, Total Defense, Bitdefender, Avast, AVG and Avira remain extremely efficient offline.
” We suggest that vendors of cloud-intensive products notify users appropriately in the event of loss of cloud connectivity, as this can significantly affect the protection provided. », publishes AV-Comparatives.
Windows Defender is also one of the worst antiviruses tested in terms of false positives, far more than most of its competitors. According to the AV-Comparatives study, only Panda and K7 do worse. The good performers are Avira, ESET and Kaspersky, which did not trigger any false positives on the sample they processed.
Windows Defender is not among the best antiviruses
As a result of these weak points, Windows Defender is not among AV-Comparatives’ most recommended antivirus solutions. The service only gets two stars, like ESET, while Avast, AVG, Avira
Bitdefender, G DATA, Kaspersky, McAfee, NortonLifeLock, TotalAV, Total Defense and VIPRE get three stars.
AV-Comparatives recalls that a ” a product that succeeds in detecting a high percentage of malicious files, but suffers from false alarms is not necessarily better than a product that detects fewer malicious files, but generates fewer false alarms “. The comparison does not give any stars to Malwarebytes, in particular because of its too many false alarms.
Source : AV-Comparatives
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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.
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