Windows Defender is the integrated anti-virus of Windows 10 and allows users to be able to surf immediately without having to fear being infected with some threat (even while looking for a new antivirus we run the risk of being infected!). Being well integrated into the system, it is par excellence the fastest and least intrusive antivirus in memory: for this reason many users prefer to rely on its protection without installing any other third-party antivirus. But, to protect our operating system, it is better to install a new antivirus or just Windows Defender "> Guide to Windows Defender Security Center in Windows 10
Antivirus for Windows 10
Below we will show you the potential of Windows Defender, how to maximize it to be able to block all types of threats and, in case we are dissatisfied, which antivirus to choose to replace it.Windows Defender
For a basic user it is preferable to use Windows Defender compared to other free antivirus programs because it is perfectly integrated into the operating system, it is provided free of charge without having to touch anything, it is already configured and, even if we do not understand anything about antivirus, it is able to immediately offer a good level of protection.
To access the settings of this antivirus just open the Start menu, type Windows Defender and open the Windows Security app. If there is any problem with the antivirus, the security icon at the bottom right will turn yellow, signaling the problem encountered with a periodic notification.
The antivirus is able to automatically scan the computer when left on and inactive: to scan then just leave the PC on for at least half an hour, so you can be sure that the scan takes place (a summary notification will appear at the end of the scan ).
As far as updates are concerned, Windows Defender stands out above all the others, as updates of antiviral signatures and new scan modules are transmitted via Windows Update : just leave the Windows 10 updates active to always maintain the optimal level of protection.
If we want to manually update Windows Defender, we recommend you read our guide on How to update the Microsoft antivirus (Windows Defender or MSE) .
The negative aspects of this antivirus are a not very fast scan and a cleaning system that often slows down on the most aggressive viruses (repeatedly requesting a system restart to complete the removal): these behaviors are also present on other antiviruses, but they are definitely less invasive and annoying.
If we have chosen to focus exclusively on Windows Defender, we advise you to maximize it by reading our guide How to use the "Windows Defender" antivirus and supporting a free manual scan engine, such as Malwarebytes, by doing manual scans every so often to check that everything is in order.
Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition
If the protection of Windows Defender is not enough to protect our computer but we are looking for a very light antivirus, completely automatic and easy to install, we recommend you to try Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition.
This antivirus auto-starts and replaces Windows Defender with a very responsive real-time scan engine that can block all threats that try to infect your computer. The peculiarity of this antivirus is that it requires very little user interaction : once installed it will not be necessary to do anything else, since it installs the updates automatically every time the PC is started (and whenever they are present in the online database) . To start a scan just open the program interface and click on System Scan, which is in fact also the only button present. If, on the other hand, we wish to analyze a file or folder, simply open the interface and drag it inside, in order to start a selective scan.
The only flaw of this antivirus is in its extreme simplicity (for many it is an advantage!), Since it does not offer any real customization : in the settings there is nothing to configure, we can only insert exceptions or check the virus basket to restore any false positive.
Kaspersky Security Cloud Free
Another very powerful and simple to use antivirus that we can use for free is Kaspersky Security Cloud Free.
This famous paid antivirus also provides a "reduced" and free version of its award-winning protection system, based on signatures and on the heuristic engine accessible at all times on the cloud network managed by Kaspersky . Thanks to this antivirus, we will be able to analyze automatically and in real time the threats that are spreading or just emerging (0-day), so as to offer maximum protection from all new malware immediately. In addition to the scan module, the program offers a dedicated VPN to encrypt data when we use an insecure connection and a password manager to keep our passwords in a secure safe, accessible only with the master password.
The only flaw of this antivirus is its cloud nature : all the heuristic signatures and engines are available on Kaspersky's servers, therefore we will always have to be connected to Interne to obtain maximum protection ( the antivirus still works offline, but with the generic signatures and without heuristics).
Avast Antivirus Free
If we are looking for a classic antivirus, widely configurable and free, the only one that we recommend you try is Avast Antivirus Free.
With this antivirus we will have free of charge many protection modules ( real-time scan module, Web module, e-mail module and behavioral module ) and a system for monitoring the data exchanged on the network, so as to also stop infections from other PCs present on the LAN . The program automatically proceeds with periodic updates, allows you to scan with various levels of intensity and to schedule automatic scanning on a specific day or when we are inactive.
In addition to the components designed to replace Windows Defender, Avast integrates modules to protect privacy on your computer, to control the nature of the links we open on browsers and a "do not disturb" mode that automatically eliminates the viruses detected when we use a full screen program. (game, film etc.).
Avast is ready for use, so we can also install it and forget about it; if we are a little more advanced users, it will still offer a lot of options to get even more protection.
Difficult to find a fault in this antivirus, but if we really have to find the hair some protection modules are available only for a fee. Nothing transcendental, since already in free configuration it offers everything you need to effectively replace Windows Defender.
Conclusions
As we have read in this guide, we can confidently rely on Windows Defender if we are casual and "distracted" users (ie 90% of computer users nowadays)., Who prefer an automatic protection system and that does not interfere too much with the user's activity.If we have caught a virus in the past and want a more powerful antivirus, we have shown you those which, in our opinion, are simple to use, light in memory and able to perform the scan and cleaning job in a completely automatic way, with minimal user interaction.
If we want to test a more complex antivirus with a greater number of interactions, we recommend you read our guide on the best free Antivirus alternatives to Windows Defender for Windows 10 .
Other good free antivirus for Windows 10 can be seen in our guide to the best free antivirus for PC .
