Does an external anti-virus program make sense in Windows 10 Home?

Today I set up my mother's new laptop and noticed for the first time that a virus scanner was installed in Windows 10. Have you had any experience with these? Or should I prefer an external anti-virus program? Unfortunately, almost every PC magazine recommends a different manufacturer. My mother surfs the PC on Facebook, works with MS Office and does online banking

I find that an external anti-virus program is unnecessary, especially at these prices. Windows Defender is really a good AnVi program. I've had this on my PC for 3 years now and nothing has happened, even where I let Norton take a look, nothing that doesn't belong there.

With kind feet ^^

Unfortunately, almost every PC magazine recommends a different manufacturer

and from which decade do the articles come?

The built-in Windows Defender has been among the best for a few years, so additional protection - except brain.exe - is not really necessary

That depends on your mother's usage behavior. If she surfs the web carelessly and clicks strange links in emails, an additional virus program with e.g. Mail protection definitely make sense. In all other cases, it is a waste of money, since such programs usually create more gaps than they close. The Windows Defender is sufficient if you use the Internet wisely. Some good reading material if interested:

https://www.golem.de/news/antivirensoftware-die-schlangenoel-branche-1612-125148.html

According to various tests, the Defender works well to very well - not worse than other (paid) products.

What is different:
The users of other programs have been properly conditioned. The Pavlovian dog would have been jealous of how good the various "you are in danger!" and "Your IP is visible!" Overlays paired with "Your system is secure!" Advertising has trained people.

If there's no message they become nervous → "something is wrong?".

Would you take your car to the workshop because it reports NO errors? Nope. But with the PC you are so far that you get panic without corresponding warning messages…

Conclusion: take Defender and good.

The Windows 10 Defender has gotten pretty good by now, you can actually leave it on if you otherwise pay attention to general security, i.e. Don't install dubious programs or visit dubious websites, etc. 😊

Otherwise, a good antivirus would be: Kaspersky + Bitdefender + Eset NOD 32