Microsoft and "best antivirus" aren't usually written in the same sentence, but they're going to have to be following the latest antivirus test results.

As Softpedia reports, the independent IT security institute AV-TEST spent May and June continuously evaluating 20 home user security products using their default settings to see which offered the best protection. Only four of those products achieved a top score, and one of them was Windows Defender.

The best antivirus software for Windows 10 (home user): https://t.co/e7yI71mNlP pic.twitter.com/wlTv97vztt — AV-TEST GmbH (@avtestorg) August 1, 2019

The other three are F-Secure SAFE 17, Kaspersky Internet Security 19.0, and Norton Security 22.17. The big difference between these and Windows Defender is the fact Microsoft includes Windows Defender for free with Windows 10, where as the others require a paid subscription to continue being fully-functional.

Of the other products evaluated, Webroot SecureAnywhere 9.0 came last. Those just missing out on the top score while still earning an AV-TEST "Top Product" award include Avast Free AntiVirus 19.5, AVG Internet Security 19.5, Bitdefender Internet Security 23.0, Trend Micro Internet Security 15.0, and VIPRE AdvancedSecurity 11.0.

There's clearly a lot of choice on the antivirus market and most of the options offer good protection, but Microsoft is now setting a very high bar. It beats most of the competition and is completely free for Windows 10 users. Everyone else really needs to up their game and their value proposition if they want to keep selling security software to Windows users.