{"id":206730,"date":"2022-11-17T06:21:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T05:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=206730"},"modified":"2025-07-01T20:20:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T03:20:21","slug":"boost-windows-11-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/boost-windows-11-security\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to boost Windows 11 security"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It seems that <a href=\"https:\/\/windows-defender.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"Microsoft Defender\">Microsoft Defender<\/a> has yet again taken last place in an antivirus assessment. AV-TEST, a reputed antivirus assessment firm, recently tested <strong>numerous anti-malware products<\/strong> on the <a href=\"https:\/\/windows-11.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Windows 11<\/a> operating system. Microsoft Defender did not impress. In fact, the resident Microsoft antivirus barely scraped by and currently shares last place with Total Defense.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Windows 11\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_app-logo-xl,f_auto\/p\/3a83edc2-8bcb-4baa-8fbe-3ddcf458c1a4\/1709716978\/windows-11-win11icon.png\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Windows 11<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/windows-11.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DOWNLOAD<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--0\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"0\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\"><\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/windows-11.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact that Microsoft Defender achieved such a dismal score would not be so alarming if not for the <strong>multi-billion dollar brand<\/strong> it represents. The fact that this AV software is what comes with <a href=\"https:\/\/windows-11.en.softonic.com\/articles\/microsoft-netflix-lower-priced-windows-devices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"every Windows device\">every Windows device<\/a> is what\u2019s truly troubling. It is time to <a href=\"https:\/\/windows-11.en.softonic.com\/articles\/windows-11-moment-1-update\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"boost Windows 11 security\">boost Windows 11 security<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The assessment firm graded each of the 17 antivirus products with its own score, known as the AVC or AV-C score. AV-TEST also used a PCMark score. In order to achieve a perfect score according to the <strong>AVC score<\/strong>, the software would need to achieve a score of 90. The PCMark score was out of 100. To determine each product\u2019s total performance impact, researchers looked at the Impact Score. This value was obtained by adding both the AVC score results and those of the PCMark score and then subtracting the result from a possible total of 190.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"773\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Its-time-to-boost-Windows-11-security.jpg\" alt=\"It\u2019s time to boost Windows 11 security\" class=\"wp-image-206741\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Its-time-to-boost-Windows-11-security.jpg 773w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Its-time-to-boost-Windows-11-security-290x300.jpg 290w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Its-time-to-boost-Windows-11-security-768x795.jpg 768w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Its-time-to-boost-Windows-11-security-12x12.jpg 12w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/Its-time-to-boost-Windows-11-security-150x155.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 773px) 100vw, 773px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can see in the table above, K7 scored the highest, with a score of 189.6 out of a possible 190. Microsoft Defender, regrettably, scored only 162.3.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just in case you were curious about how the assessment firm determined the values for the AVC score, here\u2019s how it was done: \u2018For the AV-C score, we took the<strong> rounded mean values<\/strong> of first and subsequent runs for File Copying, whilst for Launching Applications we considered only the subsequent runs. \u201cVery fast\u201d gets 15 points, \u201cfast\u201d gets 10 points, \u201cmediocre\u201d gets 5 points and \u201cslow\u201d gets 0 points.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reasons that Microsoft Defender scored so low can be summed up by poor handling of file copying and archiving. App installations are another place that Microsoft Defender on <a href=\"https:\/\/windows-11.en.softonic.com\/articles\/windows-11-energy-recommendations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"Windows 11\">Windows 11<\/a> was found lacking. In addition to that, it was discovered that the utility tends to<strong> slow users\u2019 systems down<\/strong> considerably when these processes are performed. Luckily, Microsoft also has a<a href=\"https:\/\/windows-11.en.softonic.com\/articles\/microsoft-pc-manager\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> PC Manager utility<\/a> that should help you out if your PC is running a little slow.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the test didn\u2019t just reveal that Microsoft Defender is one of the poorest-performing mainstream antivirus utilities in the industry. It also introduces us to the best-performing alternatives. According to AV-TEST, you <strong>cannot go wrong<\/strong> with <a href=\"https:\/\/k7-total-security.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">K7<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/panda-free-antivirus.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"Panda\">Panda<\/a>, or Kaspersky. All three of these utilities, apart from achieving the three highest scores out of the 17 services that were put to the test, were given a three-star Advanced+ Performance badge in the October 2022 AV-TEST antivirus software assessment. If you\u2019d like to read the full report, you can find that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.av-comparatives.org\/tests\/performance-test-october-2022\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019d prefer to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/windows-11.en.softonic.com\/articles\/windows-11-usb-drive-eject-bug\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"articles about Windows 11\">articles about Windows 11<\/a>, why not check out our latest piece about a potential<a href=\"https:\/\/windows-11.en.softonic.com\/articles\/microsoft-netflix-lower-priced-windows-devices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> lower-priced Windows device<\/a>? Is the tech giant taking notes from <a href=\"https:\/\/netflix.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"Netflix\">Netflix<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It seems that Microsoft Defender has yet again taken last place in an antivirus assessment. AV-TEST, a reputed antivirus assessment firm, recently tested numerous anti-malware products on the Windows 11 operating system. Microsoft Defender did not impress. In fact, the resident Microsoft antivirus barely scraped by and currently shares last place with Total Defense.&nbsp; The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/boost-windows-11-security\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;It\u2019s time to boost Windows 11 security&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9222,"featured_media":206743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[3726],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-206730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-windows-11-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322907,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206730\/revisions\/322907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206730"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=206730"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=206730"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=206730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}