To protect yourself from digital threats like viruses and phishing, there are numerous tools, both paid and free. A current comparison of the Stiftung Warentest compares 28 programs for Windows and Mac, including the Defender integrated in Windows 10.
The Windows Defender lands in 18th place, which is mainly due to the "satisfactory" protection according to the product test. While the real-time monitoring does very well, when scanning for existing malware on data media, some unrecognized threats and the lack of protection against phishing have a negative impact on the evaluation.
Warentest therefore recommends combining the Defender with a browser with integrated phishing protection. Because this includes prominent representatives such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Micsoroft Edge, this should be the case with a majority of Windows users anyway.
Free virus scanners do well
Of the eight Windows programs rated "very good", three are free. So you get along well with free tools, but then you have to live with disruptive factors such as integrated advertising.
According to the product test, the international test »compiled more than 40,000 malicious programs, malicious websites and phishing emails".
According to the test, Apple's MacOS was only vulnerable to 20 malware programs. However, protection against phishing attacks that target passwords and data is also very important here, either using a browser or using a tool.
Criticism of anti-virus programs
Both the comments of the Stiftung Warentest test and our current community test on anti-virus programs critically point out that such tools themselves can become a security problem.
Avoiding virus protection entirely, as only 4.62 percent of the more than 8,340 participants in our survey do, is also not recommended.
Over 50 percent of those surveyed believe in protecting their operating system, paid tools account for about 26 percent, free tools about 15 percent.