Microsoft Defender offline detection is Poor

AV-Comparatives has released a new report comparing several anti-malware apps. Microsoft Defender performs worst in offline detection. In contrast, good results were achieved in the online mode. AV-Comparatives has tested several antivirus programs. In addition to apps from Avast, AVG, and Avira, programs from Bitdefender, ESET, G Data, K7, and Kaspersky were compared.

McAfee, Malwarebytes, Norton, TotalAV, Total Defense, Trend Micro, and VIPRE solutions were also examined. In addition, Microsoft Defender was also tested. In the offline test, the Windows-integrated tool received the third-worst score. While G Data recognized 98.6 percent of the malware tested, the Defender was only able to protect the system against 60.3 percent of the programs.

The defender with good online protection

However, the result does not mean that Microsoft Defender offers poor protection. The offline test only indicates which part of the locally stored malicious programs the tool detects without an active internet connection.

In online mode, 98.8 percent of files are locked before they can be launched. In fact, the protection rate is 99.96 percent and indicates how many malware apps are prevented from making changes to the system while running.

The tests were conducted in March 2022. A total of 10,040 malware files were used. Microsoft Defender erroneously considered only five files to be compromised, even though it was not malicious code. The false-positive rate was highest for the tools from K7, G Data, and Panda. More details can be found on the official website of AV Comparisons Find.