Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 10, is off to the fastest adoption of any version of Windows ever, and is already in use (33 percent), or being piloted, by more than 96 percent of enterprises. However, while security was a major focus of Microsoft in designing the software - Windows Defender and Windows Firewall – the huge success of the OS and the vast Windows installed base, which includes enterprise, SMB, public sector, and consumer, has made it a major focus of cybercriminals, too. CVE currently lists 166 Windows 10 vulnerabilities, and in an average week Avast prevents more than 2.3 million virus attacks on Windows 10 PCs.

So ensuring you have the best cybersecurity possible means adding additional capabilities that go above and beyond the very basic protection provided by Windows 10. In fact, the latest version, Windows 10 Anniversary, is reported to be "full of significant bugs causing systems to freeze, browsers to misbehave, and peripherals ... to malfunction."

Protect your Windows 10 with another antivirus program

For the best protection against online threats, we suggest the addition of a second antivirus software program that is designed to complement Microsoft’s pre-installed antivirus, Windows Defender.

Avast Endpoint Security provides extra capabilities, such as combining machine learning with massive data engines such as DeepScreen and Evo-gen, CyberCapture, and a password manager – advanced protection that the default protection can’t even begin to provide.

It’s one thing to be proficient at developing software, and an entirely different matter developing security software that needs to be revised and updated on an ongoing basis. For example, Windows Defender sends out two updates per day versus Avast’s 200+ streaming updates a day to stay ahead of the bad guys.

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Even daily updates are too infrequent when new threats are constantly emerging and a system can be compromised in seconds: Of the almost 750 million data breaches due to cybercrime reported last year, it took attackers minutes or less to compromise systems in 93 percent of cases, and data exfiltration occurred within minutes in 28 percent of the cases.

In third party testing, Windows Defender constantly came up short.

• Real-world testing for malware and zero-day detection: Windows Defender scored 89.9%, the lowest of 22 programs tested, vs. Avast’s 100% protection.
• Malicious URLS, exploits, and malware: Windows Defender detected just 90.8% vs nearly 100% for Avast (AV-Comparatives, March 2016)
• Home Anti-Malware Protection Test: An AA rating for Windows Defender for malware detection accuracy vs an AAA award, the highest rating, for Avast (SE Labs, March 2016)
• System impact: with an impact of 15.7 points, Windows Defender received the 1-star Standard rating vs Avast’s 3-star Advanced+ rating for a system impact of only 0.5.

Microsoft’s Windows 10, and its security sidekicks – Windows Defender and Windows Firewall, are a good start to protecting your devices, but that’s all they are, a start.

To ensure the best protection possible, for your business, you need other cybersecurity tools, especially an antivirus tool like Avast Endpoint Security. Only then can you feel confident that your online experiences, applications and data, will not be compromised.