Windows 8’s Antivirus Tops Security Test

Computer security has been an essential focus at Microsoft these past few years. While earlier versions of Window came with tame security, Windows Vista delivered a radical shift in protection.

It has only gotten better from there, with Windows 7 and Windows 8 providing watertight safety.

The Redmond company reinvented the wheel for its latest operating system and instead of Security Essentials, users got Windows Defender, a full featured antivirus in Windows 8. It is absolutely free and is delivered as part of the OS.

But that’s not the best part, far from it. The folks over at Which? put Windows Defender through the paces, and it came out in flying colors. In fact, it topped the list and the product reviewer labeled it as one of the best choices in the market.

While The details of the test are fairly vague for the time being, Windows Defender is labeled as an outstanding security tool that offers great protection against malware.

Microsoft’s Security Essential on the other hand failed certification test for the second time earlier this month. You may recall we ran a story back in November where it lost AV-Test.org certification.

Apparently, things have not improved much to the point that it failed the test for a second time in December. It blocked only 78 percent of the malware — the industry average is upwards of 92 percent. Overall, the application received a score of 10 point out of a maximum of 18.

Only two other security solutions did worse. Wowzers!