You may not be receiving top-tier protection offline from Microsoft Defender, according to new data. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it ...

Nothing beats free antivirus protection on Windows, like Microsoft Defender, but some of that software might not be as strong as you think based on a new study from an anti-malware assessment company.

In context: Microsoft Defender made its debut as a downloadable free anti-spyware program in the Windows XP days. Eventually, Microsoft turned into a proper antivirus solution (it's gone through a few ...