You won’t be able to escape Microsoft Defender on Windows soon
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Microsoft has automatic installations of the new version of malware removal tool and security dashboard Microsoft Defender on Windows devices with active personal Microsoft 365 (M365) subscriptions.
Documentation (opens in new tab) for the new Microsoft Defender (via windows latest (opens in new tab)) confirms that M365 subscribers are being used as guinea pigs, stating that other users can expect to be affected by the change in March 2023, despite needing an M365 subscription to use the service.
But if for some reason you really can’t wait to install the latest refresh of a largely ineffective security app, you can get it right now from the Microsoft Store via the official website (opens in new tab).
The new Microsoft Defender
While the latest Microsoft Defender isn’t available to business users just yet, due to the bizarre requirement to sign in to the app with a Microsoft account and work accounts that aren’t supported yet, they probably aren’t missing out on much.
Microsoft Defender itself does very little and acts more as an overview of a system’s security. On a PCis actually Windows Security that performs most of the day-to-day security protection, such as detecting files and running periodic system scans.
Even then, TechRadar Pro strongly recommends investing in an alternative, more robust business antivirus software solution. At least Microsoft Defender has a sense of disabling itself if it detects a third-party device installed on the system.
For anyone else insisting on sticking with Microsoft’s standard offerings, note that even avoiding Windows 11, at the time of writing the current version of the operating system, won’t be enough, as one commenter on Windows Latest wrote that the new Microsoft Defender installed itself on their Windows 10 device.