▷ What is better, windows defender or avast free antivirus

How to get it

Of course the first thing we will have to focus on is the common characteristics of both programs.

Both are free, Windows Defender of course it is, since they are natively integrated into our Windows 10 system. We will not have to activate the system by license to enjoy its functions.

On the other hand, Avast is a free antivirus, although the company has other more advanced versions available by paid license. The truth is that these versions are very complete, but they have a cost.

Both antivirus will have:

Active protection in real time against threats such as spyware, ransomware and malware. Both offer us the possibility of executing them offline to detect viruses before the PC starts. Both are automatically updated, although the database of Avast virus is somewhat more advanced and comprehensive. They also have virus trunk functionality, website blocking, configure exclusions and temporary deactivation. Both have Wi-Fi network protection implemented.

Main advantages and disadvantages of having Windows Defender

The main advantage that Windows has to defend against Avast is that it is completely integrated into the system. This is important because it is also connected to the Windows firewall, and to the Smart Screen program blocking tool.

We will access all the available antivirus options from the system configuration from the update and security section. The menu is very simple to read and easy to use.

It offers options that other free antivirus programs do not have, such as the aforementioned firewall, detection of suspicious programs when installing them and protection of user accounts.

As for the negative aspects to comment, we can mention that it is impossible to uninstall it. This seems silly, but there are users who want to uninstall this program in order to install a paid one or simply because they don't like it.

Furthermore, the complete deactivation of it is practically impossible. We are not talking about deactivating the shield, but all the functionalities that it has. To do this, we will need to configure group policies or go to the Windows registry. So it is quite tedious and there will always be active processes of it in the system.

Advantages and disadvantages of having Avast

We now turn to talk a little about Avast. The company behind Avast has been related to equipment safety for many years, so we have no doubts about its experience and effectiveness.

The main advantage that we see Avast, is its interface, unlike Windows defender, absolutely everything we will have centralized under the same window, both options and modules to activate or deactivate. For a user who wants to access all the antivirus options easily and bluntly, Avast clearly outperforms Defender.

In addition, we can install, uninstall, activate and deactivate it as we please. Another window of this antivirus compared to other free options on the market, is that its protection modules will not be deactivated after the typical test time, as is the case with others such as Malwarebytes, for example. This means that we will have exactly the same functions from the first day to the last, something that is appreciated.

Regarding the disadvantages that we can get from Avast, it is that the payment options are much more complete than this, and the general protection of Defender is more complete as it is a product of the system manufacturer itself.

Protection, performance and usability success rate

We now turn to the main aspects to be looked at in an antivirus, which are the level of protection, the performance and consumption of resources in the system and the usability and false alarms and protection options.

For this we have accessed the list of AV-TEST experts and we have looked at the list of antivirus programs to see where both are located in these three aspects.

Protection:

Source: AV-TEST

Performance:

Source: AV-TEST

Usability:

Source: AV-TEST

We see that both in security and usability Windows Defender is ahead, although they are practically in a technical tie. Bypassing the payment options on the list, they are the two best free PC protection programs.

Detailed results of Windows Defender:

Detailed results of Avast Free antivirus:

In general, we verify that the results are very even in both programs, having an exactly the same protection against attacks and malware detection index.

In performance statistics, Windows Defender is generally slower than Avast when it comes to installing programs and accessing web pages. Instead, we see that it gets better results when it comes to loading frequently used programs and running software, something that is very important when it comes to having a computer with ease and little influence from an antivirus.

The average number of erroneous detections of software such as malware are also identical, with an average of 4 in more than a million examples. Then we continue with the technical tie.

Opinion on Windows defender vs Avast

To choose Windows Defender or Avast, we believe we have given good information regarding both softwares. Of course, this is not an in-depth review of both antivirus programs, since we would be here for a long time almost for nothing.

In my opinion, the best option is Windows defender, mainly because it is already natively implemented in Windows and it is lazy to have to download other software and install it. Also, as we have mentioned, disabling Windows defend completely is almost impossible.

If we take into account the results of AV-TEST, it is not that one antivirus stands out from the other, they have practically identical results in everything, so we finally consider that the best option is Windows to defend, due to its features, availability and security.

After this information, each one draw their own conclusions. Of course there will be favors on both sides, but looking objectively, the result is a draw.

If you want more information about it, we propose these articles in which we touch both antivirus more carefully:

What free antivirus do you think is better, Defender, Avast or another one? Let's write in the comments what you think.