Microsoft has been offering antivirus protection with its operating systems since 1993, Microsoft Anti-Virus for MS-DOS. The current Microsoft Defender Antivirus began as Microsoft AntiSpyware in 2005.
It was a difficult journey, with the antivirus tool going through several names and sometimes getting below zero scores in third-party testing, but with the release of Windows 10, Microsoft Defender Antivirus became a reputable (if not glorious) anti-malware tool. . One consistent factor through all of these changes is that Microsoft protection has always been free.
Is this changing? Many readers were alarmed by the recent announcement of Microsoft Defender for Individuals, which, as the Microsoft description page makes clear, is only available as part of a paid subscription to the Microsoft 365 cloud-based office service What happened to freedom?
Defender of last resort
If all the computers on the Internet have antivirus protection, life becomes more difficult for malware writers. It is more difficult for viruses to spread and less lucrative to plant trojans that steal data when most potential victims have virus protection. Even ransomware factories can’t get that much money from victims when protection is universal.
That’s why Microsoft designed Defender to start any computer that doesn’t have third-party antivirus software. The almost universal antivirus provides a kind of herd immunity.
It works? Well, Microsoft has the numbers to prove it. Representatives have pointed out that the malware removal tool you see with almost all Windows updates does more than raise the level of Defender. Unless you turn it off, you provide detailed (but not personal) information to Microsoft, including your operating system, any malware detection, and which third-party antivirus software may be installed. And studies based on this information show that even unprotected computers benefit when most of their connections have antivirus.
Defender aims to maintain this herd immunity, without interfering with the choice of any third-party antivirus users. If you install Bitdefender, Norton, McAfee, or any other recognized solution, Defender suspends its operations by silently watching from the background. But if you remove the protection or (more likely) drop it, the Defender will re-activate. The point is to keep your system protected in one way or another.
The defender is persistent. To test Defender’s third-party antivirus utilities without any interference from Defender, I resort to tweaking the registry, modifying Windows service permissions, and editing group policies. Otherwise, Defender would delete some of my samples during the time between starting a new test and completing the installation of a new antivirus.
Confused ad
The Microsoft Defender for People announcement (Opens in new window) begins with a big splash: “Microsoft Defender. Simplified online security. Easy-to-use online protection for you, your family, and your devices with the Microsoft Defender application, which can now be downloaded with your Microsoft 365 subscription “. It caused readers to contact me in a panic. They have always trusted Defender (despite my exhortations to use a better free antivirus product). Will they have to change?
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Other mentions in the ad do not clarify things. For example, “Get a centralized view to manage and monitor your security status on your computers and phones” (emphasis added). FAQ response to “Do I need a Microsoft 365 subscription to use Microsoft Defender?” is a resounding “Yes” and “No” FAQ in “Is Microsoft Defender built into the Windows operating system?”
Windows users don’t have to worry
In the end, there is no real change to Microsoft Defender Antivirus on Windows. The new Microsoft Defender for Individuals strictly protects non-Windows systems. Offers virus protection on macOS and Android (but not iOS) and web protection on Android and iOS (but not macOS). Web protection refers to what Windows users know as a SmartScreen filter, which I’ve used in the past to protect only Microsoft browsers.
A blog post by Vasu Jakkal (Opens in new window), Microsoft’s corporate vice president of security, compliance, identity and management, finally makes it clear that this new offering strictly extends virus protection to platforms other than Windows. Microsoft Defender Antivirus status does not change. I must point out that the best macOS and Android security antivirus products almost certainly do a better job. Few are available for free, but then this new cross-platform Defender isn’t free either.
Therefore, if you rely on Microsoft Defender Antivirus for security, nothing changes. You can pay to extend protection to other platforms and manage them (and your Windows protection) from a central location. Better yet, you can install a cross-platform security suite to take care of all your devices. But if you do nothing, the Defender will still take care of you, as always.
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