In these times of rising threats on the Internet, protecting your computer from malware seems more essential than ever. Windows comes standard with anti-virus protection called Defender. Is it enough?

There's no shortage of anti-virus programmes, and the proliferation of threats seems to justify their existence: Malware is becoming increasingly dangerous, and there's no alternative to good protection. Here are a few things you should especially look for.

Defender, the free virus scanner integrated into Windows 10, was considered inadequate for a long time but recently it has caught up a lot. Defender now offers secure and reliable protection, as found in tests carried out by AV-Test, an IT security institute in Germany.

The tests found that Defender did very well in detecting viruses, especially those involved in zero-day attacks, which exploit security gaps on the same day that they are discovered.

So does having Defender make other anti-virus software unnecessary?

"Others don't offer more protection," says Ronald Eikenberg from c't magazine. "The free versions from the virus protection manufacturers are all very similar and offer roughly the same level of protection."

Even so, Eikenberg believes that these competitors also have a reason to exist: "Many manufacturers offer support that Defender does not." However, this is really only available on the paid premium versions.

Anti-virus scanners also sometimes come with other tools, such as for securely deleting files or cleaning up the hard drive. Whether these tools justify a purchase depends on the user's personal needs.

In principle, all of the programmes do the job, but they can differ in their usability. For that reason, Eikenberg recommends sticking with the scanner you already have if you're relatively happy with it.

One factor to consider is advertisements. Many free virus scanners can annoy users with ads, and even in the case of the paid premium versions, it's not uncommon to have pop-ups.

Defender, on the other hand, does without advertising.

An important rule applies to all anti-virus programmes: They must always be kept up to date with the latest virus definitions so they can protect against the latest threats. The virus scanner needs Internet access to achieve this, so it must not be blocked by firewalls or a lack of authorisations.

Defender is set up to automatically search for updates and install them independently. It's best to leave these settings unchanged.

No virus scanner can guarantee complete protection, so user behaviour is also important.

"Always keep your computer up to date and install updates immediately" is the advice of David Bothe from the Gelsenkirchen Institute for Internet Security in Germany.

Updates are not only important for the virus scanner, but also for the operating system and the web browser, as well as all other programmes that communicate with the network or the Internet.

For one thing, you should only download programmes from known and reputable sources. "Downloads from exchanges, illegal software shops and other dark areas of the Internet are often manipulated with malware," Bothe warns.

You should also exercise caution when it comes to emails. "Do not open attachments if you are not sure who they are from and what is in them. Don't click on any links that seem suspicious to you," he says.

 - dpa