On Christmas morning, you unwrapped your gift and to your surprise, inside the box was a brand new Windows laptop. As you set it up, you remember how often you heard about malware and virus threats and wonder if you need to purchase third-party antivirus software for your shiny new machine.

The answer is: you may not need to; Windows 10 and Windows 11 come with their own antivirus software called Microsoft Defender Antivirus, aka Windows Defender. It used to be terrible, but in the last few years Microsoft has completely changed direction and Defender has become one of the best antivirus programs, free or paid, in detecting, blocking, and neutralizing malware.

Several other features found in paid antivirus products are also available for free in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Parental controls can be enabled in the Family Options area of the Windows Security dashboard; Microsoft Edge browser has a hidden password manager; Microsoft for Android and iOS A feature in Edge called "SmartScreen" blocks known malicious websites and downloads.

However, to get the best protection from Windows' built-in security tools and features, you need to stick with Microsoft products. This means using Edge instead of Chrome or Firefox as your default browser, Microsoft Office 365 instead of Google Workspace or LibreOffice, Microsoft Teams instead of Slack or Zoom That is.

As a result, when the Chrome or Firefox browsers encounter a malicious website, they will have to rely on the browser's own protection rather than Microsoft's. (To be fair, Chrome and Firefox protection is quite good.)

Microsoft has browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, but they are not available for Windows 10 and Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, or Education versions, but they are limited to machines running the Pro, Enterprise, or Education versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11.

For parental controls to work properly, children must use Edge on Windows and no other browsers. You can also include the Microsoft Family Safety app on your child's Android or iOS device, but this requires a paid subscription to Microsoft Office 365.

If you are not comfortable with this, and in our opinion, because Edge is lighter and faster than Chrome, Microsoft Defender Antivirus and related protections built into Windows 10 and 11 will protect you from malware infection by It should protect you and provide some useful additional security features as well.

However, if you want to use Chrome or Firefox, Slack or Zoom, Google Workspace or LibreOffice instead of the corresponding Microsoft products, it would be best to get one of the best Windows 10 (and 11) antivirus programs It would be best to get one of the best Windows 10 (and 11) antivirus programs.

That program protects all browsers equally and detects all kinds of application threats, not just Microsoft's. One of the most impressive antivirus programs we have seen is Kaspersky Security Cloud Free.

If you are a multi-platform household and are willing to spend a little more, you can purchase one of the best Internet security suites available. Some also bundle identity theft protection services, VPNs, backup software, and cloud storage.

In short, it is ultimately up to you to decide if Microsoft Defender Antivirus is good enough. This seems like an evasive answer, but it is not. To choose an antivirus software, you must first determine what you need. The bottom line is that, unlike a few years ago, Defender is now a serious option worth considering.