Avast: Actually, You Do Need Third-Party Antivirus in Windows 8

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We posted a Quick Tip this past Friday morning suggesting that you won’t be needing any third-party antivirus software to keep you safe in Windows 8. As quickly as we could tell you this great news, an Avast representative sent us an email suggesting otherwise.

when it comes to the effectiveness of MSE as an antivirus it has not been the top notch I’m afraid to say…

The Avast representative was quick to defend the fact that Avast has proven to be more effective against ZERO-day malware attacks than Microsoft Security Essentials, and said he was “looking forward to [seeing] the test results of the new Windows Defender.” While the rep was fairly clear in his intentions — to prove to us that Security Essentials simply isn’t up to par — we’ll have to see if what he says is true. He simply told us that Avast outperforms most of it’s competitors in the monthly AV Comparatives dynamic test and provided us a graph illustrating his point.

After doing some research, the representative’s claims actually turned out to be valid. Avast does provide better protection from ZERO-day malware attacks than Security Essentials according to AV comparatives’ studies. But where does the new Windows Defender stand in comparison to its third-party competitors? We don’t know at the moment, because the new antivirus has not yet participated in these studies. Do you need Avast to keep you safe? With Windows Defender and common-sense browsing habits you’ll probably be fine, but we’ll let you be the judge.