Of the 19 antivirus programs for Windows 10 and 11 tested by Stiftung Warentest, 14 protect very well and three are good guards. Microsoft's on-board tool Windows Defender is only a satisfactory watchdog in both variants, but a free alternative is one of the test winners.
According to the situation report of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), the threat of cybercrime has never been as high as in the past year. In 2022, ten percent more vulnerabilities in software products became known than in the previous year. 13 percent of these were classified as critical. After an attack with ransomware (blackmail Trojans) on a district administration in Saxony-Anhalt, a disaster was declared for the first time in Germany due to a cyber attack.
Private users can hardly defend themselves against targeted attacks by hackers - which is also not the norm. But you can protect yourself against widespread and widespread malware with antivirus programs, which is why a guard should be active on every computer. The selection is large, Stiftung Warentest has tested 19 watchdogs for Windows 10 and 11. None of them are very good, which is mainly due to poor data protection declarations. However, 14 antivirus programs are top when it comes to protection.
The free Microsoft on-board tool Windows Defender is not one of them. Both variants for Windows 10 and 11 only received a quality rating of 2.6, and Stiftung Warentest rated the protective effect as only satisfactory (2.7). The reason for the weak rating was too frequent false alarms.
With Bitdefender Antivirus Free for Windows, however, users will find a free alternative that is even one of the four test winners, which received an overall rating of 1.6. The program protects very well, handling and computer load were also rated with a 1. Like all other test candidates, the free watchdog only missed out on a better overall rating because of clear deficiencies in the data protection declaration.
The three other equally rated test winners cost money: Avast One Individual 54 euros, F-Secure Safe 29.90 euros and Bitdefender Internet Security 20 euros.
The Russian antivirus programs from Kaspersky did not receive any quality ratings, although they protect very well and the examiners did not find any abnormalities. Against the background of the war in Ukraine, however, it cannot be ruled out that the Putin government will put pressure on the provider to make harmful changes to the software, according to the statement. Kaspersky has rejected this to Stiftung Warentest.
