Windows Defender Offline integrated into Windows 10

[JMH]

Windows Defender Offline is a new feature of Insider Builds of Windows 10 that enables you to scan the computer system during boot time and without Internet connection requirement.

Windows Defender is the built-in antivirus solution of the Windows 10 operating system. While its capabilities have improved in recent time, it is still inferior when it comes to the detection of malware when compared to many third-party solutions.

The latest AV Test results published in October 2015 for instance give Windows Defender 14 out of 18 points, but only 3.5 of 6 points in the protection test category which is the lowest score awarded in the test series.

Windows Defender Offline

While that is certainly discouraging, it is positive that Windows Defender's protection capabilities are improving. One of the latest improvements that is currently available only to Windows Insiders on Windows 10 is a new option to run a system scan on boot instead of while the system is running.

Windows Defender Offline integrated into Windows 1 - gHacks Tech News

 

[Digerati]

I think that is an unfortunate, and inaccurate characterization of WD in the AV Test results - and more to my point, the folks at ghacks. Microsoft announced a couple years ago it will no longer concentrate on achieving good scores in those comparative reviews set in controlled environments of laboratory conditions.

Worse, IMO, is ghacks commentary is nothing short of biased. Why? Because what was the point of the article? Was it to point out the new build includes a new feature (off-line, during boot scanning)? Or was it take an opportunistic bash as Microsoft? I fear the latter.

The fact of the matter is, WD is designed to thwart "current" threats to today's operating systems - not the 10s of 1000s of never seen threats found only in today's testing labs.

If WD were as bad as ghacks implies, there would be 100s of millions of infected users out there because the vast majority of users go with Windows defaults - and that includes WD and WF, and typically nothing else.