<Li> Microsoft Security Essentials </Li> <Li> Windows Defender Security Center </Li> <P> Windows Defender, officially called Windows Defender Antivirus in Windows 10 Creators Update, is an anti-malware component of Microsoft Windows . It was first released as a free antispyware program download for Windows XP, shipped with Windows Vista and Windows 7 and made into a full antivirus program replacing Microsoft Security Essentials as part of Windows 8 and later versions . </P> <P> Before Windows 8, Windows Defender protected against spyware . It included a number of real - time security agents that monitored several common areas of Windows for changes which might have been caused by spyware . It also included the ability to easily remove installed ActiveX software . Windows Defender featured integrated support for Microsoft SpyNet that allows users to report to Microsoft what they consider to be spyware, and what applications and device drivers they allow to be installed on their system . Protection against viruses was added in Windows 8; Windows Defender in Windows 8 resembles Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) and uses the same virus definitions . </P>

Is windows defender an antivirus in windows 7