Neowin News Feed for: Defender

Microsoft introduces new security tool for IT admins managing AI infrastructure

Usama Jawad — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 17:50:02 +0000

Microsoft just dropped a new command center for AI security, promising tighter control and clearer insight for teams without adding extra cost. Read more...

Microsoft Defender for individuals now supports unsecure Wi-Fi detection in more countries

Pradeep Viswanathan — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 17:16:02 +0000

Microsoft has expanded the privacy protection features of Microsoft Defender for individuals. The app can now detect unsecure Wi-Fi connections and will soon automatically enable VPN on public network Read more...

Exclusive: PB Tails Defender Limited Edition review, the world's first TMR stick controller

Robbie Khan — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 23:00:01 +0000

The new Crush Defender is special, this one is the first to go into production using TMR technology for the joysticks. Housed in a hand-finished limited edition housing, I put it through its paces. Read more...

AV-Comparatives: Microsoft Defender improves offline virus detection on Windows by a lot

Sayan Sen — Mon, 15 May 2023 16:32:01 +0000

AV-Comparatives recently released its Real-World Protection test for web threats where Microsoft Defender did quite well. In the following Malware Protection test too, Defender has shown improvement. Read more...

Microsoft publishes Defender guides to help clients enable key security features

Ishtiaqe Hanif — Wed, 03 May 2023 20:42:01 +0000

Microsoft published a solutions feature guide on Defender for Endpoint and Defender for Office 365. It will help enable security features and get the most value out of their security solutions. Read more...

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint now available for Android Enterprise COPE devices

Steve Bennett — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 16:16:01 +0000

Microsoft has announced today that Defender for Endpoint is now available on Android Enterprise company-owned personally enabled (COPE) devices. This update can be deployed with Microsoft Intune. Read more...

Windows Server 2022 KB5015879 update boosts IOPs, fixes Windows freeze due to Defender

Sayan Sen — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 22:20:01 +0000

The latest Windows Server 2022 update KB5015879 (OS Build 20348.859) is here with multiple improvements and bug fixes including performance boost in IOPS, a fix for a Defender bug, and more. Read more...

Microsoft Defender now available for individuals to protect their PCs and phones

Alap Naik Desai — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 15:36:02 +0000

Microsoft Defender is now available for individuals to protect their devices running iOS, Android, Windows, or macOS. License for personal usage is offered through Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Read more...

Microsoft Defender Endpoint now isolates unmanaged and compromised Windows devices

Alap Naik Desai — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 14:46:01 +0000

Admins in charge of securing Windows devices protected by Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can now "contain" a compromised unmanaged device to prevent lateral movement of data and slow down hackers. Read more...

Microsoft issues warning about human-operated ransomware

Usama Jawad — Mon, 09 May 2022 13:00:04 +0000

Microsoft has issued a warning about the growing threat posed by human-operated ransomware in the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) gig economy. It has also provided some guidance for organizations. Read more...

Microsoft Weekly: Windows 3D Movie Maker, leaked Outlook, and Defender troubles

Usama Jawad — Sat, 07 May 2022 17:16:02 +0000

In this week's recap of everything that happened in the Microsoft-verse, we have some juicy news items related to Windows 3D Movie Maker from 1995, a leaked Outlook client, and some Defender woes. Read more...

Microsoft is now OK with Domain Controllers having some internet access

Usama Jawad — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 05:02:01 +0000

Microsoft has updated its guidance for securing Domain Controllers (DCs). Previously, the company told customers not to allow internet access on DCs in any scenario. This is not the case anymore. Read more...

Microsoft Weekly: Google on the offensive, Defender wins, and default browsers

Usama Jawad — Sat, 02 Apr 2022 17:16:02 +0000

In what was perhaps the busiest week of the year so far, you can find out more about Google's antics to bash Microsoft, Defender continuing to perform admirably in evaluations, and default browsers. Read more...

Five critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT discovered and patched

Alap Naik Desai — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 21:28:01 +0000

Azure Defender for IoT had five security vulnerabilities that SentinelOne‘s SentinelLabs had discovered and proactively reported to Microsoft. Some of the flaws are rated "Critical" for severity. Read more...

Microsoft Weekly: Defender shun, sanctions on Russia, and new web features galore

Usama Jawad — Sat, 05 Mar 2022 18:16:01 +0000

This was an extremely busy week in the Microsoft-verse with news items spread across multiple domains including sanctions on Russia, a surprising loss for Defender, and a bunch of web enhancements. Read more...

Microsoft acquires ReFirm Labs to enhance its Azure Defender for IoT platform

Stergios Georgopoulos — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 18:16:01 +0000

Microsoft will integrate ReFirm Labs' firmware analysis technology into the company's existing IoT security platform, offering customers an all-in-one, cloud-based security solution. Read more...

Microsoft Defender bug creates "thousands" of files in the boot drive, fix rolling out now

Abhay V — Wed, 05 May 2021 18:00:01 +0000

A Microsoft Defender bug is creating thousands of files and clogging the boot drive on Windows Server 2016 and 2019, according to user reports. It is now being fixed via an update to the service. Read more...

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint on Mac now offers better security controls for USB devices

Usama Jawad — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 13:36:01 +0000

In order to reduce the potential attack surface for employees who plug in USB devices to their organization's Macs without realizing security risks, Microsoft has rolled out better security controls. Read more...

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint falsely flags latest Chrome update as malware

Abhay V — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 18:40:01 +0000

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is falsely flagging the latest Chrome update released yesterday as a Funvalget backdoor. Some reports suggest that an updated definition has fixed the false positive. Read more...

Microsoft Defender is coming to iOS and Android

Rich Woods — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 17:00:01 +0000

Today, Microsoft announced some updates to its Defender antivirus software, including that it will be coming to both iOS and Android later this year. It will be demoed at RSA next week. Read more...

Windows 8 defeated 85% of malware out of the box

Tim Schiesser — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:26:54 +0000

Despite BitDefender trying to put a bad spin on the improvements to Windows 8 security, it was found that out-of-the-box, Windows 8 blocked 85% of the top 100 malware families used this year Read more...

Leaked Media Defender e-mails reveal secrets

Tom Warren — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:11:59 +0000

Peer-to-peer (P2P) poisoning company MediaDefender suffered an embarrassing leak this weekend, when almost 700MB of internal company e-mail was distributed on the Internet via BitTorrent. The e-mails reveal many aspects of MediaDefender's elaborate P2P disruption... Read more...

Windows Defender 7.0

Razvan Serea — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 08:05:06 +0000

Windows Defender is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions... Read more...

Windows Defender picked apart

Steven Parker — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:04:03 +0000

Windows Defender, a security application built in to windows Vista, has again come in for criticism from security experts. Researchers from Enex TestLab, an independent testing facility, tested Windows Defender and found that it only... Read more...

Webroot: Vista's Defender stops 16% of 25 Spyware Samples

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:53:36 +0000

According to the results of a two-week study of Windows Defender by Webroot, a leading antispyware vendor and Microsoft competitor, the product missed 84% of a sample set of 25 spyware, Trojan horse programs and... Read more...

Windows Defender Final Available

Steven Parker — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:01:46 +0000

Cheers Bink for the heads up on this update, as title suggests Microsoft have pushed Windows Defender final out and it's available for download now. You must be running either Windows XP SP2 or Windows... Read more...

Windows Defender Beta 2 Update

Steven Parker — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:03:57 +0000

Microsoft has released an updated version of its free Windows Defender Anti Spyware software, dated 4/12/06 the installer comes in just under 6 MB -a little smaller than the earlier version. Users will need to... Read more...

Microsoft Releases Windows Defender Beta 2

Tom Warren — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 10:06:11 +0000

The long awaited beta 2 of Windows Defender, formerly Windows AntiSpyware has now been released. The new versions sports a new user interface similar to what is found in... Read more...

Microsoft AntiSpyware becomes Windows Defender

Howard Thomson — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 15:53:20 +0000

Thanks to BigBoy for the heads up in Back Page News. Yesterday it was announced on the Microsoft TechNet AntiMalware blog that Microsoft AntiSpyware (currently in beta) will be renamed to Windows Defender.... Read more...

Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown updated demo

Marcel Klum — Fri, 10 Oct 2003 15:55:48 +0000

An updated playable demo for Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown has been released, bringing this sample of the 3D action strategy hybrid by Cinemeware from v4 to v5. There are no details on the... Read more...

Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown screens

Marcel Klum — Mon, 21 Jul 2003 18:35:41 +0000

Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown is based on Cinemaware's hit game Defender of the Crown, first released in 1986 on the Commodore Amiga and subsequently to a variety of platforms where sold over 1,000,000... Read more...

Defender Ships for Xbox

Marcel Klum — Mon, 04 Nov 2002 19:21:38 +0000

Midway Games Inc., a leading software industry publisher and developer, announced today that Defender®, an all-new 3-D version of the popular 1980s arcade classic, has shipped for the XboxTM video game system from Microsoft and... Read more...

Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown testers wanted

Marcel Klum — Mon, 30 Sep 2002 13:26:54 +0000

Cinemaware's epic game production, Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown is currently in development at the company's headquarters in Burlingame, California. The product is based on Cinemaware's hit game Defender of the Crown, first released... Read more...

Defender Announcement & Screens

Marcel Klum — Mon, 10 Jun 2002 13:04:17 +0000

Midway Games have just announced their latest title for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube - Defender. The game is due to be released in Autumn 2002. Defender® brings an all-new 3-D remake... Read more...