Microsoft Defender Review (2025): Is it the right choice?

Full Review

Microsoft Defender offers essential security features for 2025 but lacks additional tools like a free VPN and password manager, which are included in the paid Microsoft 365 plans. For a more feature-rich free antivirus, Avira Free Security is a better alternative, offering extras like a performance optimizer and secure browser. Norton, though not free, is the top premium choice, with a 60-day money-back guarantee and enhanced tools like a password manager and system optimization features.

Anti-malware

Microsoft Defender provides a decent malware scanner, leveraging a large malware database, machine learning, and heuristic analysis to detect threats like trojans, worms, cryptojackers, and rootkits. It offers four scan types: Quick, Full, Custom, and an Offline scan for hidden malware.

In our tests, the Quick scan took about 5 minutes and successfully detected malware in critical system folders, though Bitdefender’s scan was much faster. The Full scan took over an hour and missed some samples, while Norton’s scan was quicker and more thorough. The Custom scan works but has a less intuitive interface compared to competitors, and the Offline scan was effective but could be more convenient, as Norton offers easier recovery tools.

Overall, Microsoft Defender’s malware protection is solid, but premium options like Norton and Bitdefender provide faster, more comprehensive scanning features.

Anti-phishing

Microsoft Defender’s anti-phishing and app protection tools offer solid defense but come with some limitations. Its reputation-based protection uses a large online database to block low-reputation apps and websites, effectively preventing phishing and harmful downloads, though it misses some threats compared to top competitors like McAfee and TotalAV. Whitelisting false positives is simple, a feature that’s more cumbersome in other programs like ESET.

Exploit protection works automatically and guarded well against most simulated attacks, though it missed some advanced exploits that Norton 360 handled.

Smart App Control goes a step further by whitelisting apps based on their reputation, but it’s quite restrictive. It blocked several safe apps during testing, and there’s no way to add exceptions. The Evaluation Mode scans for false positives and can prevent the feature from being fully activated. If disabled, Smart App Control can’t be reactivated without reinstalling Windows, which makes it inflexible.

Overall, while Smart App Control provides strong protection for non-technical users with basic needs, it may frustrate those using niche or gaming apps due to its lack of flexibility and frequent false positives.

Firewall

Microsoft Defender’s firewall offers strong monitoring of inbound and outbound traffic but falls short on user-friendliness compared to competitors like Norton and Intego. Navigating basic options, such as allowing apps through the firewall or toggling notifications, can be cumbersome due to scattered menus and the need for administrative access to make changes.

On the plus side, its advanced settings are robust, letting users create specific rules, authenticate communications, and monitor connections based on different profiles (e.g., home or work). Advanced users will appreciate the detailed view of connections, protocols, and ports, as well as the ease of modifying rules.

While the firewall provides solid protection, it doesn’t block as many suspicious connections as some competitors and can be frustrating to configure for basic tasks. However, for those who need deeper control over their network settings, it’s a capable tool.

Other security features

Account Protection

Windows Defender’s Account Protection offers basic tools to secure your account but lacks depth compared to other solutions. It allows users to:

• Connect Windows and Microsoft accounts.
• Access Windows Hello 2FA settings.
• Enable Dynamic Lock.

While connecting accounts can sync passwords and aid in recovery, it doesn’t provide significant added security. Windows Hello supports facial recognition, fingerprint, PIN, or U2F key authentication, though facial recognition is limited by webcam compatibility. Dynamic Lock automatically locks your PC when your phone is out of range, but it feels more like a gimmick given the ease of using shortcuts like Windows key + L.

Device Security

Device Security offers advanced protection like Core Isolation, which isolates critical processes from malware without noticeable performance impacts. However, this feature mainly protects against rare forms of malware, and unlike competitors such as Avira and Comodo, it doesn’t allow users to isolate specific apps.

The feature set is further limited by hardware requirements like TPM 2.0 and secure boot, which might be unavailable on older systems.

Device Performance & Health

This feature offers insights into system issues like time service problems, low storage, or battery life. However, it doesn’t include optimization tools, and users cannot run manual scans. Fixes are typically one-click, but it’s frustrating that performance scans only run at set intervals. Unlike TotalAV, which offers an on-demand PC optimizer, Windows Defender lacks any meaningful system enhancement tools.

Additionally, the Fresh Start feature has been removed from the UI, making it harder to reinstall Windows while retaining personal files.

Ransomware Protection

Windows Defender offers Controlled Folder Access to protect against ransomware, but it’s cumbersome to set up and is turned off by default. You must manually add folders beyond the default protected ones, and false positives are frequent, requiring constant app whitelisting.

Additionally, Windows promotes OneDrive backups as part of its ransomware protection, but this feels more like a backup feature than a genuine ransomware defense.

Parental Controls

Windows Defender’s parental controls are basic and hard to set up. Features include content filters, screen time monitoring, and geofencing, but they are limited in functionality and only work on Microsoft Edge. Competitors like Qustodio and Norton offer broader web filtering across multiple browsers and more category-specific controls.

One standout feature is Xbox screen time monitoring, but overall, the setup process is complex, requiring child accounts with email addresses, making it less user-friendly.

Test score comparison

We conduct in-house anti-malware tests and review the results from AV-Test, a German lab renowned for its objective evaluations. Below is the average of the last 10 AV-Test results for Windows. Their scoring criteria are:

• Protection (1-6): Effectiveness in blocking malware.
• Performance (1-6): Impact on system speed.
• Usability (1-6): Frequency of errors like false alarms.

We calculate a final score using this formula:

Final Score = 60% Protection + 20% Performance + 20% Usability.

While these results influence our choice of the best antivirus for Windows 11, other factors like privacy and identity protection also play a key role. For a similar analysis for Android or macOS, visit our other comparisons:

• The best antivirus for Android.
• The best antivirus for Mac.

Note: Brands not listed in the table either do not participate in AV-Test trials or are tested too infrequently, such as Surfshark Antivirus.

Source: AV-Test (Last updated: December 2024).

Price comparison

We’ve compared the prices of the top antivirus products for Windows. To make it a fair comparison, we looked at what it would cost us, to protect a  single Windows PC with the most essential features:

• Anti-malware
• Anti-phishing (web protection)
• Firewall
• Password manager
• Unlimited VPN (no data limit)

A few notes:

• Some brands are missing features, lowering their value for money.
• Prices are second-year prices in the USA, without first-year discounts.
• Prices are rounded up for readability (e.g., $99.99 becomes $100).

Brands have different prices outside the USA. See those on their website.

User reviews

We’ve compared the user reviews of all antivirus brands. We’ve used the scores and review count of TrustPilot, a leading user review platform. 

We consider scores above 4.0 very good. Lower scores indicate that the brand might have a poor product or customer service. McAfee’s scores, for instance, are worrying.

Source: TrustPilot. Last Update: December 2024.