Microsoft Defender Preview App quietly launches on the Microsoft Store

Microsoft has quietly launched a new Microsoft Defender Preview app on the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and Windows 11 PCs. The company has been testing the app internally over the last couple of months, and Aggiornamenti Lumia noticed yesterday that it’s now available for testing for Windows users.

This new Microsoft Defender Preview app currently works as a centralized hub for protecting Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices from malicious threats. The app can show the status of up to five different devices, and it can provide security tips and actionable recommendations to protect them from security threats.

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Microsoft Defender Preview won’t be replacing the company’s Windows Defender antivirus on Windows, but it will rather complement it. Overall, Microsoft Defender Preview makes a pretty good use of the company’s new design guidelines for Windows 11, and it does seem to be something that many Windows users may want to install on their PC.

If Microsoft has yet to officially announce this new Microsoft Defender app, users can currently sign in with their personal Microsoft account and the app is free to use while it’s in preview. However, the software giant mentioned in the store listing that a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal subscription will eventually be required, though there’s no ETA yet.

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Conversation 12 comments

  • bluvg

    08 February, 2022 - 1:39 pm

    <p>The Defender suite is underrated and under-hyped, IMO, especially considering Microsoft’s history. The capabilities and coverage with E5 are very, very impressive.</p>

  • dftf

    08 February, 2022 - 2:23 pm

    <p>Given with <em>Windows 11</em>, <em>Microsoft </em>said a main-focus would be making the UI more-consistent, then I’m puzzled by the design of this new app. The light-blue, gradient-fill background is very <em>Windows 7</em> era, and the UI overall reminds me of the old <em>GIANT Antispyware </em>app, which <em>MS </em>purchased back-in-the-day and became <em>Windows Defender</em> for <em>Vista</em> (and code-wise the basis for <em>Microsoft Security Essentials</em>).</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      08 February, 2022 - 6:26 pm

      <p>Pretty sure that’s just a mockup and that gradient is there to simulate the Mica background in light mode.</p>

    • mikegalos

      08 February, 2022 - 11:30 pm

      <p>No. The GIANT software acquisition didn’t become Defender. </p><p><br></p><p>The GIANT product became one of several parts of the anti-malware part of OneCare along with the already existing Microsoft antivirus product. Specifically, it was the anti-spyware component that was merged into the existing Microsoft anti-malware suite already in OneCare. </p><p><br></p><p>The anti-malware parts of OneCare including the part purchased from the GIANT acquisition were later released as no-cost products and later bundled under the Defender name. </p>

      • dftf

        09 February, 2022 - 10:17 am

        <p>Odd… my version of events is also what <em>Wikipedia </em>goes with also.</p><p><br></p><p><em>GIANT Antispyware</em> is only mentioned in the "Microsoft Defender" article, and indeed is where their "GIANT Antispyware" page now redirects to. On neither the "Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner" or "Windows Live OneCare" pages is <em>GIANT</em> mentioned at-all, even on both respective <em>Talk </em>pages.</p><p><br></p><p>Even an original Microsoft press-release seems to suggest GIANT did turn-into <em>Windows Defender</em>:</p><p><em>"Microsoft plans to make available to Windows customers a beta version of a spyware protection, detection and removal tool, based on the GIANT AntiSpyware product, within one month." [source: </em>news.microsoft.com/2004/12/16/microsoft-acquires-anti-spyware-leader-giant-company]. The original <em>Defender</em> in <em>Vista and 7</em> only did spyware scanning, not anti-virus: that was added in <em>Windows 8 — </em>you had to install <em>Microsoft Security Essentials </em>on <em>XP, Vista </em>or <em>7 </em>to gain virus-scanning also.</p><p><br></p><p>So… not saying you’re wrong, but… I can’t see to find anything which says <em>GIANT </em>became <em>OneCare</em> and <em>Defender</em>’s anti-malware was a stripped-down version of <em>OneCare</em> or similar. (In fact, the reverse: on the <em>Windows Live OneCare</em> Wiki article, it says in the <em>Protection </em>section that version 1.0 of <em>OneCare</em> required users to install <em>Defender</em> on the same PC to get anti-malware protection; whereas in version 1.5, they merged the <em>Defender</em> engine into <em>OneCare</em> so a separate install was not necessary. To me, that implies the reverse…)</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      09 February, 2022 - 8:20 am

      <p>I stand corrected. After installing it, that is in fact a static background. Nothing about this software matches Windows!</p>

  • bluvg

    08 February, 2022 - 3:46 pm

    <p>I’d post this in the forums, but I get an error every time I do so, so I’ll post here:</p><p><br></p><p><strong>"Microsoft looking at buying Mandiant"</strong></p><p><br></p><p>This would be a <em>huge </em>security acquisition. (Saw the story at seekingalpha.com.)</p>

  • lewk

    Premium Member
    08 February, 2022 - 11:07 pm

    <p>It appears to be US only, as I can’t download it in Australia.</p>

    • navarac

      09 February, 2022 - 2:47 am

      <p>Nothing new there, then!</p>

  • jorgevelafoto.com

    09 February, 2022 - 6:18 am

    <p>I’l give it a try! This antivirus has always been great</p><p><br></p><p>jorgevelafoto.com</p>

    • dftf

      09 February, 2022 - 6:38 am

      <p>To the admins: obvious spam comment. Doesn’t seem to be any option to "report spam" in the current site-design I can see?</p>

  • Greg Green

    11 February, 2022 - 9:16 am

    <p>This seems confusing to have both a MS Defender and Windows Defender. Will WinDefender suggest you download MSDefender? </p><p><br></p><p>sounds like the potential for more nagging. Just automatically roll the new one into the old one and forget about the store.</p>

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