Independent test finds Microsoft Defender the best free antivirus in October 2021

Windows users often wonder whether Microsoft Defender, Microsoft’s free and built-in anti-virus application, is sufficient to protect them from the dangers of the internet, particularly when many laptops come bundled with other apps such as McAfee or Kaspersky which tends to start asking for subscription fees 6 months down the line.

According to independent testing service AV-test, the answer is that Microsoft Defender is just as good as the paid versions, and of course completely free.

They found it blocked 100% of 0-day malware attacks from the Internet, including malicious websites and emails and also detected 100% of widespread and frequently occurring malware from the last 4 weeks.

They also found it has significantly less impact on the loading of web pages than other antivirus applications, though it seemed to interfere more with the installation of applications.

When compared to other big-name antivirus applications such as Kaspersky, McAfee, AVG and Avast, Microsoft Defender continued to be significantly faster, which is often one of the major reasons users prefer to go with the native solution on their PC.

Slow down when visiting popular websites	Standard PC	High-end PC
Microsoft Defender	-7%	-5%
AVG	-16%	-9%
Avast	-39%	-17%
McAfee	-21%	-10%
Kaspersky	-26%	-13%

I am sure our readers agree that hobbling your PC with an antivirus that reduces web browsing speeds by nearly 40% is not reasonable.

The full results can be seen here.

Does this information make your readers rethink their antivirus choices? Let us know below.

via Winfuture