I’ve Tested Every Major Antivirus. Please Don’t Rely on Just Microsoft Defender

I’ve been testing antivirus software since the 1980s, and I consistently recommend securing all of your devices with a strong antivirus—yes, even a free one can do the job. In a recent post, Microsoft effectively slammed that advice as incorrect. The post stated that Microsoft Defender Antivirus, the one that’s built into Windows, is all the protection you need, backing that assertion with a thousand words of enthusiastic prose. So is Microsoft right? My answer is a resounding no, and I’ll explain why.

Microsoft Defender: A (Very) Brief History

Microsoft has attempted to provide PCs with antivirus software for ages, all the way back to Microsoft Anti-Virus for MS-DOS in 1993. Its Windows incarnation started life as Microsoft AntiSpyware in the Windows XP era. But, true to its name, this app only handled spyware, not viruses or other kinds of malware. Over the years, it has gone by more names than our vice president, including Windows Defender, Microsoft…