You should read the full report from AV-test to see for yourself.Īll this is great news, but to my disappointment neither Windows 8 nor Windows 8.1 comes with an option to right click a file and choose “Scan with Windows Defender”. In addition, when subjected Defender to a rigorous test of over 18,000 samples to see how well it discovered common viruses, Defender tied the industry average of 99.
For example, when tested against 0-day malware attacks it pulled in a score of 81 which is only 14 points shy of the industry average of 95.
Zero-day attacks exploit unknown vulnerabilities the attacks occur on the same day the vulnerability becomes known to the public therefore, the developers had zero days to deal with the vulnerability.Īnd although Windows Defender isn’t quite as good as AVG Antivirus Free or Avast Free, Defender still holds its own. If you’re dubious about how well Defender actually defends PCs against viruses, think again.Īccording to a study by a German independent research team at, Windows Defender catches a little more than 80% of zero-day threats. Windows Defender is Microsoft’s flagship antivirus program baked right into Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.
