Windows 10 has built-in real-time antivirus named Windows Defender, and it’s actually pretty good. It automatically runs in the background, ensuring all Windows users are protected against viruses and other nasties. Here’s how it works.
RELATED:What’s the Best Antivirus for Windows 10? (Is Windows Defender Good Enough?)
Starting with the Creators Update for Windows 10, Windows Defender’s interface changed a bit, and it was integrated into the new Windows Defender Security Center—which also provides access to security-related tools like family protection, firewall settings, device performance and health reports, and browser security controls. If you haven’t yet updated to the Creators Update, you should still be able to follow along pretty well.
Trusted Antivirus Software for 100% Windows 10 OS compatible. Comodo Antivirus for Windows 10 is a free virus protection software and is made available for both commercial and personal use. The virus protection software offers protection for Windows 10 operating system.
What Is Windows Defender?
Microsoft offered a standalone antivirus app named Microsoft Security Essentials in the days of Windows XP, Vista, and 7. With Windows 8, the product was tidied up a bit, bundled with Windows, and renamed Windows Defender. And it’s pretty good, if something of a mixed bag. It’s true that other antivirus apps—like BitDefender and Kaspersky—protect against more viruses in benchmarks.
But Windows Defender boasts some advantages, too. It’s by far the most non-invasive app, handling things in the background whenever it can and not nagging you all the time. Windows Defender also plays nicer with web browsers and other apps—respecting their security and privacy settings more than most other antivirus apps.
RELATED:How to Run Malwarebytes Alongside Another Antivirus
What you use is up to you, but Windows Defender is not a bad choice (and has overcome most of its problems from a few years back). We do, however, recommend running an anti-malware app like Malwarebytes in addition to whatever antivirus app you choose.
Take Advantage of Automatic Scans and Updates
Like other antivirus apps, Windows Defender automatically runs in the background, scanning files when they’re downloaded, transferred from external drives, and before you open them.
RELATED:Why Does Antivirus Software Quarantine Viruses Instead of Deleting Them?
You don’t really have to think about Windows Defender at all. It will only pop up to inform you when it finds malware. It won’t even ask you what you want to do with the malicious software it finds—it just cleans things up and quarantines the files automatically.
You’ll occasionally see a notification popup to let you know when a scan has been performed, and you can usually see the details of the last scan by opening the Action Center in Windows 10.
If Windows Defender does find a threat, you’ll also see a notification letting you know that it’s taking action to clean those threats—and no action is required from you.
RELATED:You Won’t Be Able to Disable (or Delay) Windows Updates on Windows 10 Home
Antivirus definition updates automatically arrive through Windows Update and are installed like any other system update. These types of updates don’t require rebooting your computer. That way, don’t need to worry about updating Windows Defender, because it’s all handled quietly and automatically in the background.
View Your Scan History and Quarantined Malware
You can view Windows Defender’s scan history anytime you want, and if you’re notified that it has blocked malware, you can view that information too. To fire up the Windows Defender Security Center, just hit Start, type “defender,” and then select “Windows Defender Security Center.”
In the Windows Defender Security Center window, switch to the “Windows Defender” tab (the shield icon) and then click the “Scan history” link.
The “Scan history” screen shows you all current threats, plus information about your last scan. If you want to see the full history of quarantined threats, just click the “See full history” link in that section.
Here, you can see all the threats that Windows Defender has quarantined. To see more about a threat, click the arrow to its right. And to see even more, click the “See details” link that shows up when you expand a particular threat.
RELATED:How To Tell If a Virus Is Actually a False Positive
You don’t really need to do anything else here, but if you didn’t have Windows Defender delete the threat when it was found, you’ll be given the option to do that on this screen. You’ll also be able to restore the item from quarantine, but you should only do this if you’re absolutely sure the detected malware is a false positive. If you’re not absolutely, 100 percent sure, don’t allow it to run.
Perform a Manual Scan
RELATED:Why You Don’t Need to Run Manual Antivirus Scans (And When You Do)
Back on the main “Windows Defender” tab, you can also have Windows Defender run a quick manual scan by clicking the “Quick Scan” button. Typically, you won’t need to bother with this since Windows Defender offers real-time protection and also performs regular automatic scans. However, if you just want to be safe—maybe you just updated your virus definitions—there’s absolutely no harm in running a quick scan.
You can also click the “Advanced scan” link on that screen to run three different types of scans:
- Full scan: The quick scan only scans your memory and common locations. A full scan checks every file and running program. It can easily take an hour or more, so it’s best to do this when you don’t plan on using your PC much.
- Custom scan: A custom scan lets you choose a particular folder to scan. You can also do this by right-clicking any folder on your PC and choose “Scan with Windows Defender” from the context menu.
- Windows Defender Offline scan: Some malware is tough to remove while Windows is running. When you select an offline scan, Windows restarts and runs a scan before Windows loads on the PC.
Configure Virus and Threat Protection Settings
By default, Windows Defender automatically enables real-time protection, cloud-based protection, and sample submission. Real-time protection ensures Windows Defender automatically finds malware by scanning your system in real time. You could disable this for a short period if necessary for performance reasons, but Windows Defender will automatically re-enable real-time protection to keep you safe later. Cloud-based protection and sample submission allow Windows Defender to share information about threats and the actual malware files it detects with Microsoft.
To enabled or disable any of these settings, click the “Virus & threat protection settings” link on the main “Windows Defender” tab.
And then toggle the settings on the screen that appears.
Set Up Exclusions for Certain Folders or Files
If you scroll down the very bottom of that same “Virus & threat protection settings” page, you can also set exclusions—files, folders, file types, or processes that you don’t want Windows Defender to scan. Just click the “Add or remove exclusions” link.
If antivirus is dramatically slowing down a certain app you know is safe by scanning it, creating an exclusion can speed things up again. If you use virtual machines, you might want to exclude those large files from the scanning process. If you have a huge photo or video library that you know is safe, you don’t really want scanning slowing down your editing.
To add an exclusion, click the “Add an exclusion” button, select the type of exclusion you want to add from the dropdown menu, and then point Windows Defender to whatever you want to exclude.
RELATED:Antivirus Slowing Your PC Down? Maybe You Should Use Exclusions
Just be careful to use exclusions sparingly and smartly. Each exclusion you add reduces your PC’s security by a bit, because they tell Windows Defender not to look in certain places.
What if You Install Another Antivirus?
Windows 10 automatically disables Windows Defender if you install another antivirus app. While another antivirus app is installed, Windows Defender won’t continue performing real-time scans, so it won’t interfere with your other app. You can still use Windows Defender to perform a manual—or offline—scan as a backup to your preferred antivirus app, though.
If you ever uninstall the other antivirus, Windows Defender will automatically kick into gear once again and take over, providing antivirus protection.
Do note, however, that certain anti-malware apps—like Malwarebytes—can be installed alongside Windows Defender and both will offer complimentary real-time protection.
Whichever antivirus product you prefer, it’s good that every single new Windows installation going forward will come with at least a baseline built-in antivirus protection. While it may not be perfect, Windows Defender does do a decent job, is minimally intrusive, and—when combined with other safe computing and browsing practices—might just be enough.
READ NEXT- › The Best New Features in iOS 13
- › What Does “TFW” Mean, and How Do You Use It?
- › What Does “NSFW” Mean, and How Do You Use It?
- › How to Permanently Uninstall Microsoft Teams on Windows 10
- › Six Common Smarthome Mistakes Beginners Make
(41 votes, 3.12 / 5
Loading...
In today’s digital world, malware and cyber attacks have become ubiquitous. Gone are the days when there was only a handful of malicious programs such as viruses. Nowadays, new and powerful malware variants such as the ransomware, spyware, keyloggers, and various new forms of malware have become more of a problem for individuals and businesses alike.
Real-time detection of unknown and malicious files, and protecting your computer from such harmful viruses and other malware programs becomes a necessity in today’s always-connected world.
Keeping that in mind, Microsoft has released Windows Defender with the release of Windows 8. Windows Defender is an anti-malware program that is built right into the Windows OS- meaning lower consumption of CPU resources and adequate protection against malware.
Moreover, Microsoft also updates its Windows Defender utility frequently with new data definitions (virus signatures) to keep the latest and more potent threats at bay.
So, does Windows 10 Need Antivirus? The answer is yes and no. With Windows 10, users don’t have to worry about installing antivirus software. And unlike the older Windows 7, they won’t always be reminded to install an antivirus program for protecting their system.
However, with the rapidly evolving malware threats, software and hardware vulnerabilities, does sticking with the built-in Windows Defender tool as your primary Antivirus program enough to protect your computer from malware and cyber attacks? Let’s find out.
Is Antivirus software necessary with Windows 10?
If some malicious files infiltrate your computer and you can’t get rid of them, Windows Defender will take care of them. You can also run the Windows Defender tool from a from a USB drive, even when you are not connected to the internet. This should find those harder-to-kill malware programs.
Windows Defender is more than a baseline defense, it’s a good tool, and there’s no reason not to use it. You can also use Windows Defender alongside other Antivirus software.
Windows 10 Antivirus (Windows Defender), is an integrated anti-virus and anti-malware solution that is just as good as any other antivirus software (and probably more comfortable to use for the novice). Plus, there are no bundled toolbars or annoying popups that prompt you to buy the pro or premium version.
Windows 10 Antivirus provides the same level of protection against malware as any other Antivirus for Windows 10 provides. If you’re using Windows 10 computer with up-to-date software, you can rely on Windows Defender virus removal tool built in that won’t hog your CPU resources and will keep an eye on processes and tasks in the background.
But, in today’s world of ever-changing cyber threats, adding an extra layer of protection can be beneficial. The Internet has become a part of our everyday lives, along with it, it also brings in a number of threats. Hence, it is highly essential for you to protect your computer from malware threats.
Though Windows 10 comes with built-in antivirus and anti-malware tool (Windows Defender), it might not be able to protect your web browsing activities and malicious links. You might accidentally click on a malicious link that downloads malware or adware onto your computer. So, it is important to install antivirus software that offers web protection or internet protection.
Try Comodo Antivirus which provides multi-layered security in a user-friendly interface. It combines the Host Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS), Defense+ and Auto Sandbox technology to contain even the potent malware.
Unlike all other Antivirus products that use “Default Allow” security posture, Comodo Antivirus uses “Default Deny” security posture. “Default Allow” used in all other AV products allows unknown files (malware) into your computer, i.e., if a new malware which is not updated in the antivirus’ database, then the antivirus simply allows that malware to run on your computer.
With Comodo Antivirus, unknown files and malware are made to run on a container (virtual environment) until a verdict comes from Valkyrie (unknown files analysis system).
Download Comodo Antivirus today and protect your computer from all types of malware and cyber attacks. It protects your computer, files as well as your online activities from malicious threats.
Related Resources