Win8’s AV will kick in after other solutions stop working

Last week, McAfee shared the findings of a year-long project that revealed that some 17 percent of all the tested PCs around the globe had either no AV software installed or they have and it’s not active, making its users vulnerable to malware.

This week, Gary Davis, director of global consumer product marketing for McAfee, has revealed that Windows 8 will have built-in antivirus protection in the guise of “Windows Defender”, which will activate itself if it doesn’t detect another active AV solution.

Windows Defender has already been announced by Microsoft in September, and has been seen in action during the various previews of the upcoming version of the popular operating system.

Still, the company will allow third-party vendors to stake their claim to the machines installed with it first. According to Computerworld, this decision stems from Microsoft’s wish to keep a good relationship with original equipment manufacturers.

OEMs usually preinstall their machines with trial AV solutions of this or that third-party vendor, and get a cut from each sale of a full version once (and if) the user decides to upgrade.

So, Windows Defender will only be activated if there is no other AV working on the machine. And if such a software has stopped receiving updates, for the next 15 days Windows will be popping up a window asking the user to update or upgrade that particular solution, and offering the option of Windows Defender – but also other software choices – for download from the Microsoft Store.

While the AV vendors might consider this decision still bad for their business in the long run, Microsoft seems to have taken a step in the right direction.

They might not be able to push for quarantine for infected computers, but they seem decided to do whatever they can to keep their numbers (and that of botnets) down.