Microsoft Defender Review (2023 Update): The Pros & Cons

Microsoft Defender review: summary

Microsoft Defender is ranked #20 out of 20 antivirus software.

Microsoft Defender has excellent anti-malware protection (even surpassing some brands like TotalAV), a few security features, and is included for free with Windows 365. But it has a noticeable impact on your PC’s speed.

In essence, it remains a free antivirus program. Its feature set include real-time protection, a firewall, and basic parental controls. But it misses a VPN, password manager, dark web monitor, identity theft protection, and more.

So if you only want malware protection, it could be enough. But if you want complete protection for your identity, privacy, and devices, buy a security suite like Norton, Bitdefender, or Kaspersky. They’re worth the money.

• Malware protection: 90%. Microsoft averaged 5.90 out of 6 in the last 10 protection tests. It is excellent at detecting and removing malware.
• Speed impact: 60%. Microsoft averaged 5.60 out of 6 in the last 10 performance tests. So it has a noticeable effect on the speed of your PC.
• Features: 40%. Microsoft offers anti-malware, anti-phishing, a firewall, and parental controls. But it misses a VPN, password manager, and more.
• Price: 100%. It is included for free with a Microsoft 365 subscription. However, we believe Norton or Bitdefender is worth the upgrade.

If you want the best protection, we recommend Norton.

Click the links to compare the prices of the best antivirus software:

🥇 Norton Antivirus - The best of 2023
🥈 Bitdefender Antivirus
🥉 McAfee Antivirus

Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus of 2023.

Specification comparison

Below, we have compared Microsoft Defender to Norton 360 Standard, which is the best antivirus for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

Click the links to compare the prices of the best antivirus software:

🥇 Norton Antivirus - The best of 2023
🥈 Bitdefender Antivirus
🥉 McAfee Antivirus

Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus of 2023.

Test score comparison

We’ve compared the 10 most recent test scores of all antivirus brands. The tests were performed by AV-Test, the German anti-malware test lab. They use three factors:

• Protection (1-6): Antivirus protection against malware attacks.
• Performance (1-6): System slowdown caused by the antivirus.
• Usability (1-6): Frequency of false alarms and disruptions.

We used their results, and this formula, to calculate the final score:

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

Brands not listed in the table haven’t participated in the analysis by AV-Test. This is usually not a good sign, because most reputable brands partake in the test. Sadly, Panda, Webroot, ESET, and Sophos don’t.

Click the links to compare the prices of the best antivirus software:

🥇 Norton Antivirus - The best of 2023
🥈 Bitdefender Antivirus
🥉 McAfee Antivirus

Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus of 2023.

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 Windows PC with the following 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.

Click the links to compare the prices of the best antivirus software:

🥇 Norton Antivirus - The best of 2023
🥈 Bitdefender Antivirus
🥉 McAfee Antivirus

Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus of 2023.

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. However, take these results with a grain of salt, as some brands actively attempt to increase their ratings.

Personally, we are wary of exceptionally high scores. Especially those by brands such as TotalAV, known for aggressive marketing and sales tactics.

We consider scores between 4.0 and 4.5 good and realistic. Higher scores are dubious, and lower scores indicate that the brand might have a poor product or customer service. McAfee’s scores, for instance, are worrying.

Click the links to compare the prices of the best antivirus software:

🥇 Norton Antivirus - The best of 2023
🥈 Bitdefender Antivirus
🥉 McAfee Antivirus

Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus of 2023.

Product analysis

In the table below are the core products with their features and prices. 

The prices shown are from the USA. However, most brands have different prices (and currencies) in other regions. So visit the brand’s website to see the price in your country.

Click the links to compare the prices of the best antivirus software:

🥇 Norton Antivirus - The best of 2023
🥈 Bitdefender Antivirus
🥉 McAfee Antivirus

Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus of 2023.

Microsoft Defender review

Malware Scanner

Micrososft Defender, also known as Windows Defender and Windows Security, provides an adequate malware scanner. It employs a vast database, machine learning, and heuristic analysis to identify threats such as trojans, worms, cryptojackers, and rootkits.

The scanner features four types of scans: Quick, Full, Custom, and Microsoft Defender offline scans. We found that the quick scan was effective but slower than Bitdefender’s counterpart. The full scan took over an hour, and it failed to detect all malware samples, while Norton’s scan was faster and more comprehensive.

In our tests, the custom scan enabled scanning of specific files, but its interface was cumbersome. The offline scan proved helpful, but it had limitations when compared to Norton’s recovery tools.

Overall, while Microsoft Defender offers satisfactory basic antivirus protection, rivals like Norton and Bitdefender provide superior features.

Secure Firewall

The secure firewall of Microsoft Defender monitors inbound and outbound network traffic but lacks the user-friendliness of Norton’s or Intego’s firewalls. We found basic options dispersed across various menus, making adjustments frustrating.

However, the advanced settings offered specific rules, authentication options, profile monitoring, and detailed connection information, which we believe advanced users will appreciate.

Despite providing in-depth monitoring, Microsoft Defender’s firewall falls short in blocking suspicious connections when compared to competitors. We also observed that navigating the firewall proved more challenging.

In conclusion, Microsoft Defender delivers solid network protection, but its competitors surpass it in terms of features and user experience.

Account Protection

Microsoft Defender’s Account Protection offers basic tools, including connecting Windows and Microsoft accounts, accessing 2FA settings, and enabling Dynamic Lock. We believe that connecting accounts has limited benefits, mainly syncing passwords and recovering forgotten ones.

Windows Hello, Microsoft’s 2FA feature, permits login via facial recognition, fingerprint, PIN code, or U2F key. However, only select webcams work for facial recognition, and no official list exists.

Dynamic Lock secures your computer when away, but seems gimmicky as users can easily lock their PCs with CTRL+L. In our view, Account Protection provides insufficient account security compared to services like Norton.

App & Browser Control

This feature delivers reputation-based protection and exploit protection. Reputation-based protection uses an online database to score apps and websites, blocking low-score ones.

Although effective, it falls short compared to competitors like Norton and McAfee. Microsoft Defender conveniently enables whitelist adjustments for false positives.

Exploit protection performs well against many exploit attacks but falters against advanced attacks that Norton 360 blocks. A bug in Windows 11 hides App & Browser Control in the UI, but users can access it via the Start menu search bar.

Device Security

Device Security presents advanced options like core isolation and information on the PC’s security processor and secure boot status. Core isolation safeguards core processes from malware without affecting performance. Yet, Windows doesn’t offer program isolation choice, unlike competitors like Avira and ESET.

Device Security is disabled by default on most computers, as it requires a TPM 2.0 security processor and secure boot activation. We argue that most beginner users won’t know how to enable these features, thus missing out on the threat protection.

Device Performance & Health

Microsoft Defender’s Device Performance & Health function provides computer insights but falls short in performance optimization. It detects and resolves issues with Windows Time service, storage, battery life, and app/software problems.

Nonetheless, manual scanning is unavailable, and competitors like TotalAV offer optimization features. Reinstalling Windows while keeping personal files is possible, but initiating the process is cumbersome due to outdated user interface and removed features.

Family Options/Parental Controls

Microsoft Defender presents family options and parental controls, though they are more challenging to set up and use than competitors such as Qustodio, FamiSafe, and Bitdefender. The features comprise spending, geofencing, activity monitoring, content filtering, driving reports (Microsoft 365 Family only), family email, and family calendar.

Some functions are basic and restrictive, like content filters working solely on Microsoft Edge and lacking category-based filtering. However, Microsoft Defender’s parental controls do allow for Xbox screen time monitoring, a feature also seen in Bark.

Customer Support

Microsoft Defender provides a variety of customer support options, including a help app, online knowledge base, live chat, phone support, and support forums.

The knowledge base is extensive, and live chat connects users to responsive, friendly agents. Support forums offer community-based assistance, though they can be disorganized. Microsoft Defender’s customer support benefits from Microsoft’s robust support network.

Conclusion

Microsoft Defender Antivirus, also known as Windows Defender and Windows Security, serves as a suitable free antivirus program for basic protection in 2023, delivering decent malware protection and more.

However, it has drawbacks such as complex scheduling, outmoded interfaces, and less effective features compared to Norton and Bitdefender. We recommend users seeking comprehensive protection to explore alternative antivirus software from the list of the best antivirus programs.

Click the links to compare the prices of the best antivirus software:

🥇 Norton Antivirus - The best of 2023
🥈 Bitdefender Antivirus
🥉 McAfee Antivirus

Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus of 2023.

How do we test antivirus software?

The best antivirus software offer virus protection, identity theft protection, and privacy protection for Windows, macOS, and Android. Some also offer security features for iOS and Linus.

To evaluate which providers are worth your money, we run 11 tests:

> Test 1: Anti-malware protection test

We analyze antivirus software’s capability to detect and eliminate known and unknown malware, using heuristic analysis for behavior monitoring.

We conduct in-house tests and analyze those from labs like AV-Test, SE Labs, and AV-Comparatives to determine the best malware protection.

Malware includes adware, keyloggers, ransomware, rootkits, spyware, trojans, viruses, worms, and more. Other cyber threats, usually not classified as malware, are (zero-day) exploits, hacks, identity theft, phishing attacks, scams, and social engineering.

> Test 2: False positives test

False positives occur when antivirus software misidentifies legitimate software, files, or websites as malicious. We rely on AV-Test’s large-scale analysis of false positives in its usability test to guide our evaluations.

> Test 3: System performance test

We measure the CPU load during antivirus software system scans and consider AV-Test’s performance results on the slowdown caused by antivirus software when opening websites and handling software.

> Test 4: Firewall test

We evaluate two-way firewalls that filter incoming and outgoing data and allow users to set rules to regulate data streams. We use the ShieldsUP! test to determine if the antivirus software blocks all ports.

> Test 5: Password manager test

We assess password managers’ ability to create, store, and autofill secure passwords, as well as additional features like two-factor authentication and biometric login.

> Test 6: Virtual Private Network (VPN) test

We evaluate built-in VPNs on their security, privacy, speed, compatibility with streaming services, unlimited data access, and support for peer-to-peer networks and torrent clients.

> Test 7: Parental control test

We examine parental control features, such as screen time rules, website/app blocking, and real-world location tracking. We test these features on a device and attempt to circumvent them, checking if the activity is accurately reported in the parental control admin.

> Test 8: Anti-phishing protection test

We evaluate antivirus browser extensions that block phishing sites by installing them and attempting to visit dangerous URLs.

> Test 9: Ransomware protection test

We assess security suites’ ability to prevent data encryption through exploit prevention and behavioral detection during ransomware attacks.

> Test 10: Bonus features test

We test any additional cybersecurity tools such as:

• Ad Blocker
• Anti-theft
• Dark web monitoring (identity protection)
• Email protection
• File encryption
• File shredder
• Gaming mode
• Microphone protection
• PC maintenance features
• Secure browser (hardened browser to protect your online banking)
• Secure cloud storage (cloud backup)
• Spam filter
• Startup optimizer
• Tune up tools
• Virtual keyboard
• Webcam protection

> Test 11: Operating system and multiple devices test

Operating system and multiple devices: We test antivirus software on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices and award bonus points for unlimited device protection.

> Test 12: Ownership and reputation test

We analyze the trustworthiness of antivirus companies, especially concerning customer data. We read press releases, news articles, and privacy policies to determine their reputation.

Sources and tools

Below are the sources and tools we’ve used to test the antivirus software:

• Apple Platform Security
• AV-Comparatives Consumer
• AV-Test Android
• AV-Test macOS
• AV-Test Windows
• GRC Firewall Test
• Microsoft Defender
• SpeedTest VPN
• Trustpilot Security Software

Click the links to compare the prices of the best antivirus software:

🥇 Norton Antivirus - The best of 2023
🥈 Bitdefender Antivirus
🥉 McAfee Antivirus

Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus of 2023.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are the most frequently asked questions.