For example, Windows Defender and other low-level antivirus don't protect against adware. Typical users are interested in protecting against common threats, but enterprise organizations need more than that. In one comparison, rated Microsoft Defender last among all antivirus products in malware protection.

Some antivirus testing organizations used Defender as a baseline, meaning it was the lowest level of compliance. In terms of reliability, Windows Defender has taken its lumps. Is Windows Defender enough, or do organizations need third-party antivirus software? Note: Windows Security Center will default to whatever third-party service administrators install, but Windows Defender is still present. The Windows Security Center with McAfee antivirus installed. For example, organizations could interact with Windows Defender and a third-party antivirus service from a vendor such as McAfee from the Windows Security Center (Figure 1). As in previous versions, Windows 10 OSes come with Windows Defender preinstalled by default, and admins can manage Defender via the Windows Security Center. While various versions of Windows 10 Defender have admin functions located in different places, the most updated version of Windows 10 displays the service in the Windows Security Center. MSE is not available beyond Windows 7, but Microsoft merged most of its functionality into Defender in Windows 8 and Windows 10. Defender was still part of the OS but was disabled when someone installed MSE. With Windows Vista and Windows 7, Microsoft included Windows Defender as a built-in component, but it was superseded by Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), an add-on product which improved native protections against a wider list of malware. Microsoft designed it to work as a service, ensuring Windows Defender would protect the system even when users are not logged on.

Microsoft first released Windows Defender, a replacement for Windows AntiSpyWare, in October 2006 and Microsoft included it with Windows XP and Server 2003 at no additional cost. The cheapest option isn't always the most effective, so IT should learn what Windows Defender is and what it can do for enterprise desktops. Free is as cheap as it gets, and Microsoft Windows Defender is built into the OS. However, administrators can't always choose the most expensive and feature-rich option they also have to factor in the cost-effectiveness that purchase decision-makers desire.

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