For our purposes here is all you need to know – Microsoft Defender Antivirus is the Next-generation protection pillar. Start on this docs article if you have a few hours. There’s a lot to unpack here, and certainly worth it’s own blog post.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is Microsoft’s Threat Protection solution that centers around 6 pillars – Threat & Vulnerability Management, Attack Surface Reduction, Next-generation protection, Endpoint detection and response, Automated investigation and remediation, and Microsoft Threat Experts. But since it is a component of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDfE), if you’re using MDfE you get additional functionality. It doesn’t require a client to be installed or deployed, Defender is entirely built in. As you may know, Microsoft Defender is built in to Windows 10 and provides native antivirus functionality. I personally think those sentences are incredibly confusing, which is part of the reason I’m writing this blog post now. But Microsoft Defender Antivirus does not require Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

Microsoft Defender Antivirus is a component of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, previously Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection.

Ms defender antivirus