New
#11
I prefer Avast , I use AIS.
...and is still the baseline in protection.
That actually means is the worst of all major security programs.
When proper AV's block 95-100%, Defender only manages 80% or so.
For new threats, it's even worse.
ESET, it won't slow down your system but its not free but if you want free try Avast
I have been using Norton 360 Premier for years and have had no problems. The never version is less buggy and doesn't seem to affect my laptop's performance. It has done it's job keeping my laptop virus free. The only down side, it's costly to renew.
That's exaggerating the facts. Defender has always done better than 80%. In fact, it always does very well against known threats scoring in the very high 90's, consistently about 97-99%. It is the weakest against new or zero day malware where it employs some cloud and heuristic functions but still scores lower than other products. The facts are however, that the chances of a home user encountering a new threat before signatures are released for it are very, very small. The new Defender is supposed to be better against new and unknown things but only time can tell. You also have to take the results of any testing organization with a large grain of salt. They purposely expose systems to things that 99.9% of regular users would never have to worry about. Defender is not the strongest protection you can have but for the majority of users can be sufficient. If it is coupled with a good zero day analyzer like the free Malwarebytes anti-exploit, the degree of protection is very high.
Having said all that, I am not currently relying on Defender. I was using the free version of Bitdefender but it now is not compatible with Windows 10. They say there will be a new version but they give no timeframe. I now am using the free version of Panda 2016. It is extremely light weight, fast, and strong. Just make sure that when you install it, you reject all of the optional stuff including the Panda Security Toolbar. The toolbar is made by another company called Visicom who are in the business of collecting browsing data for use in targeted advertising and that is what the toolbar does under the guise of providing web filtering (which it does a poor job of in tests). The malware and phishing protection that is built into all of the major browsers does a better job, especially in IE and Chrome, so the toolbar is not needed.
If and when Bitdefender releases a new free version, I will definitely give it a try.
Another good alternative is the free Avast which is crammed with features that you can choose whether to employ or not. They have software updating, browser cleanup, web reputation, and a couple of other things which I deem unnecessary in an AV product but you may think otherwise. I have tried MacAfee, Avira, and AVG in the past and didn't care much for any of them.
I haven't tried the latest Pandra FreeAV incarnation myself. I had troubles with some older version where I wasn't able to exclude/ignore a false positive. How can you do that?.
For me WD is adequate for the majority of regular users. Some power users may want to try anything else.
If your a smart surfer "Defender" may be adequate but i agree with AveYo , it's definitely not the one i would choose looking for the best in protection.