I choose Bitdefender (opens in new tab) to secure most of my devices.īitdefender stops threats in real time. Personally, I use antivirus software on top of Microsoft Defender (opens in new tab), because in my line of work, I need additional coverage while working in Chrome and Firefox that Defender just doesn't have. Parental controls only work with Microsoft Edge, and Defender's detection rate isn't the best. With Defender and Edge working together, you can get the same results, though I've noticed it isn't as consistent compared to other antivirus programs.īottom line: Microsoft Defender comes pre-installed on your computer, which means you don't need to do anything to get started. For browsers like Chrome and Firefox, other antivirus programs include a browser extension that stops most threats before they have a chance to start the download process. Microsoft Defender doesn't stop malware files from downloading from the internet unless you are using Microsoft Edge as your browser. Thankfully, it works well in tandem with other antivirus programs, so you can run them both simultaneously and take advantage of the protections from both.

Several testing labs have shown it to let some pretty nasty stuff in from time to time. While it is very effective, Microsoft Defender isn't at the top when it comes to stopping malware.

Free windows defender download