Trusted Reviews is supported by its audience. If you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

Trusted Reviews Awards 2021: Microsoft Defender wins Best Antivirus

Microsoft Defender Antivirus has won the Best Anitvirus category at the Trusted Reviews Awards 2021.

The free anti-malware service won the award after racing ahead of the competition when we tested it earlier this year. Reviewer Kat Orphanides praised the service for its reliable malware detection and robust ransomware defence.

“Microsoft Defender is an incredibly good, hassle-free anti-virus. However, there are still use cases for other antivirus suites – just about. If you use a version of Windows that’s no longer supported by Microsoft, then you’ll definitely need third-party antivirus: Avast, Bitdefender and Kaspersky are all good choices here,” wrote Orphanides in her Microsoft Defender wins Best Antivirus review.

The service had stiff competition with several other stellar services including Avast Antivirus Free, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition, ESET Internet Security and Kaspersky Internet Security also being shortlisted.

The Trusted Reviews Editor’s Choice Award winners are chosen by the team of product experts at Trusted Reviews. Outside of special exceptions, to be considered every product must be fully reviewed and scored at least 4/5. The final decision for which product wins is based on key metrics including how it performed during testing, our experience using it in real life and how it compares to rivals on key things, like price.

The Awards are a yearly event we run to celebrate the best products we’ve tested and coolest brands we’ve covered over the last 12 months. The Trusted Reviews Awards 2021 are being run as a week-long digital event for the second year running in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

We’ll be revealing a fresh batch of winners every day this week using the below schedule, so make sure to check back with Trusted Reviews regularly!

Why trust our journalism?

Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.

Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.

author icon

Editorial independence

Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.

author icon

Professional conduct

We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.

Trusted Reviews Logo

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the best of Trusted Reviews delivered right to your inbox.

This is a test error message with some extra words