Windows Defender has been a thing for a number of years, but its terminology and capabilities have really developed over the last couple of OS releases. Originally, it started in the Windows 8 days as a free, built-in antivirus product, and it wasn't taken too seriously at the time. Fast forward to today, however, and I rarely run across a Windows 10 computer that has the Defender Antivirus (AV) or firewall capabilities disabled. These tools exist in the OS and are enabled by default, and as a result have a level of integration and responsiveness that is hard for third-party vendors to match. I can't tell you how many times I have tracked memory leaks and random server reboots back to a poorly functioning third-party antivirus software, which is unacceptable in today's server world. Some still consider the antivirus capabilities...





















































