Since the beginning of the 90s, when the Internet began to reach the general public, there has always been the need to use an antivirus, both in MS-DOS and, later, in Windows, to protect ourselves from the viruses that were circulating at that time and that affected to the operation of our equipment. As the years have passed, new variants such as malware, spyware, ransomware and others have been appearing, with different intentions. The solution to this problem today is to use Windows Defender in combination with other antiviruses , right?
Well no. The first version of Windows Defender, now called Microsoft Defender, came with Windows Vista and was called Microsoft Security Essential. With the release of Windows 8.1 Microsoft changed the name to Windows Defender.
As the years have gone by, Microsoft has been expanding the range of options that this application covers and, at present, it is a perfectly working antivirus that has nothing to envy to other more veteran antivirus applications.
Windows Defender offers real-time protection, scanning both the web pages we visit and all the files we download to our computer in search of malicious files. In addition, it also includes protection against malware, applications that include code that performs actions that are detrimental to the operation and stability of Windows. In addition, it also protects against ransomware attacks.
Avoid conflicts with other antivirus
With the release of version 1703 of Windows 10, Windows Defender is part of Windows Security, that is, it is ultimately responsible for protecting the computer against any type of threat that affects the integrity of the system.
In fact, if we disable the Windows Security Applications service, we do not disable Windows Defender and Firewall from working. The protection service that is part of the security system is only deactivated when we install a third-party antivirus, an antivirus that is also responsible for managing the firewall.
It is disabled for the simple reason that we cannot have two antivirus applications running together on the same computer, since both perform the same functions. For example, if a vehicle works perfectly with 4 tires, it is not necessary to add 4 new tires to work together with the ones the vehicle already has.
Turn on features not covered by Windows Defender
We can have an additional antivirus to Windows Defender running and without affecting the performance of our computer as long as we deactivate the same functions that we already have at our disposal in Windows Defender to prevent both antiviruses from conflicting.
As I mentioned above, Windows Defender lacks sandox , so we cannot safely open suspicious files or download content from suspicious URLs, without affecting the entire system. When we download executable files from the Internet, Windows Defender invites us to delete the file directly to prevent our computer from being infected if it includes any type of virus, malware, spyware, and others.
But, if we use an antivirus that includes a sandbox, we can download and run the file in a sandbox to make sure if it really is the application we are looking for or if it is an application whose only mission is to infect our computer. As the sandbox function is not available in Windows Defender, if the antivirus that we install has it, we can leave it activated to add an additional level of security not available in Windows.
Another function that some antiviruses include is a VPN, a function that is not natively available in Windows Defender either, so we can also activate this function, if the antivirus includes it, without problems on a computer where we are using Windows Defender, since that there is no risk of conflict.
As long as Windows Defender and the antivirus that we install do not have both functions running , they can coexist perfectly on a Windows computer without affecting its general performance.
Not sure at all?
If the reason that has led us to try to install and run two different antiviruses in Windows is because we do not fully trust the features of either Windows Defender or the antivirus that we use, we can choose one or the other solution based on the web Virus Total to make sure if a file has a virus or not.
Virus Total is an online platform where we can upload any type of file so that it can be analyzed by more than 50 different antiviruses, showing us a detailed report of the files that are inside it. It is advisable to always use this platform as a second opinion, if we are not sure of the reliability of a file that we have downloaded from the Internet from pages of dubious reputation.
Two is not better than one
Contrary to what we might think, if we want our computer to be monitored at all times for any type of threat, we are not going to achieve it by installing an additional antivirus to work hand in hand with Windows Defender.
As I mentioned above, Windows Defender is a complete antivirus that offers protection against all kinds of threats that we can find on the Internet, so for most users it is more than enough .
However, it lacks some basic functions that the most expert users may consider basic such as sandbox, web protection and hack alerts, very specific functions that only a very small group of users need, so with the functions that Windows Defender includes it is more than enough for most home Windows users.
If we install an antivirus in Windows, Windows Defender will automatically stop working and pass the Firewall control token to the new antivirus. However, we can configure both the new antivirus and Windows Defender to work together, even if only one of them can manage the Firewall, and as long as both are not configured to perform the same functions.
If we activate the two antiviruses, both will continuously analyze the computer looking for threats, analyzing downloaded files and others, processes that, if they are only carried out by one application, hardly affect the operation of the computer , but, if they are done by two, they seriously affect to performance, since both will want to take control of the file to add it to the quarantine and the system will become so, showing all kinds of notifications from both Windows Defender and the antivirus that we have installed.
Avoid performance issues
If two antiviruses are running to perform the same function, we will notice how both the performance of the computer and the amount of available RAM memory are considerably reduced . In addition, it can cause system stability issues and cause the computer to freeze or restart without warning.
To prevent the computer from experiencing a loss of performance that affects its stability, we must activate the functions in the antivirus that are not available in Windows Defender, as we explained in the previous section.
