If you do not have an external antivirus program installed on your Windows 10 or Windows 11 device, Windows Security will act as the primary line of defense against viruses and cyber attacks. This virtual protection tool has significantly evolved, prompting us to praise its capabilities in a previous article answering the question: Does Windows 11 need an additional antivirus program? It now includes multiple features aimed at deterring most security threats to your device. At the same time, Microsoft also offers another protection tool called Microsoft Defender. Although not included in Windows, some might confuse Windows Security and Microsoft Defender because of the word “Defender.” Originally, Windows Security was known by this name. Let’s dive into the following lines to understand the differences between both tools in terms of features and protection capabilities they provide to devices.
Windows Security and Microsoft Defender
Features and capabilities of the Windows Security program
Even if you are using an unlicensed version of Windows, the Windows Security program will protect your device from cyber threats, whether connected to the internet or not. Being an essential system program, it integrates deeply with Windows to ensure maximum protection for system files and users alike. However, this deep integration makes it difficult to disable, although possible.
Windows Security offers a set of useful features that work to protect the system in real-time, serving as the first line of defense on the computer, such as the Windows Defender Firewall, which secures the device from internet attacks. The program also has other powerful features like Core isolation, Smart App Control, and Tamper Protection, which work to deter any attempts to tamper with Windows security settings. We discussed the security features in Windows in detail in a previous article which we recommend reviewing.
Windows Security also offers a mechanism to detect malware and remove it during boot via the “Offline Scan” feature, which you may need after removing viruses from Windows. Additionally, it protects against ransomware viruses through the Controlled Folder Access feature, and with the ability to keep a backup of files on OneDrive, it becomes easy to restore original versions of files that have been affected by viruses after a security breach on your device. Lastly, Windows Security has a feature called “Microsoft Defender SmartScreen” to prevent the infiltration of malicious software like Trojans resulting from downloading programs and files from the internet. By the way, this feature is enabled by default in the Microsoft Edge browser, with the option to use it in different browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Opera through installing a custom browser extension.
Therefore, by combining the features of Windows Security, you will have a very strong security package, especially since it updates automatically with each new Windows release. Well, what if you want to transfer that security package to your other devices, including those not running on Windows? That is exactly what the Microsoft Defender application is designed for, as we will explain in the paragraphs below.
How does Windows Security differ from Microsoft Defender?
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