Windows operating system is the most popular operating system in the world. It is used by 77.61% of the computers. Popular usage makes Windows operating systems a very valuable target for hackers, viruses, malware, trojans, etc. In order to protect a Windows system, an antivirus can be used. Windows Defender is a built-in antivirus provided by the Windows and Microsoft for the users without any fee. In this tutorial, we will examine the Windows Defender and learn some basics about usage.
Windows Defender or Microsoft Defender
Before starting the Windows Defender tutorial we have to learn the name of this antivirus tool. Recently in June 2019 Microsoft renamed or rebranded the Windows Defender as Microsoft Defender. So in the future, this antivirus will be called Microsoft Defender but we know that it needs some time to change the name usage.
Windows Security and Viruses
Windows operating system is the top target for most of the attacks. Windows operating systems generally are seen as the easiest way to hack and penetrate but this is also related to the user knowledge. Windows operating systems have users from novice to professional. Over the years there are a lot of different security vuşnerabilities discovered in Windows operating system. Windows Viruses are very popular but there are also a lot of anti-viruses for protection.
Windows Defender
There is a lot of antiviruses designed for the Windows operating systems. These antiviruses protect against the virus, malware, trojan, etc. according to their features. In the earlier days of the Windows Defender, it can not compete with the third-party anti-viruses but during the time it gained a lot of features. According to the AV-Test which is neutral antivirus test company Windows Defender is perfect for protection, performance, and protection for the Home Users. The antivirus software test is done during May and June 2019 and Windows Defender gets full points for these test.
There is only 3 other antivirus software which gets all points are F-Secure, Kaspersky, Norton. These results mean that Windows Defender can be used complete antivirus software.
Open Windows Defender
Windows Defender can be opened in different ways but the easiest way is using Start Menu where we can type Defender , Windows Defender etc. We can see in the following screenshot that Windows Defender is listed.
We will see the following Windows Defender Security Center main screen. We see that the following features are provided by the Windows Defender.
- `Virus & Threat Protection` provides antivirus and prevention
- `Account Protection` used to protect Windows and Microsoft accounts
- `Firewall & Network Protection` used to manage network and firewall related configuration.
- `App & Browser` control is used to prevent web, application and internet-related attacks
- `Device Security`
- `Device Performance & Health` is monitoring the system
- `Family Options` is used for parental controls for children.
Scan Viruses
We can scan for viruses and threats with the Windows Defender Virus & Threat Protection part. We will click to the Scan now. We can also scan an advanced way to provide detailed scan options. We can also the scan history where the last scan time is 22 August 2019. The scan type was quick to scan which is the default. Total 18632 files are scanned and 0 threats are found.
Disable Windows Defender
While Windows Defender is very useful and powerful antivirus software we may want to disable it. If we will use different antivirus or we do not require it we can disable in different ways. Windows Defender Virus & Threat Protection part provide the settings like below.
In this Virus and Threat protection settings we can disable the following features.
- `Real-time protection` will scan the system, files, and applications in real-time.
- `Cloud-delivered protection` will send samples to the Microsoft cloud for inspection.
