Last January, we reported on new rumors that Microsoft will broaden the consumer version of Defender from a pure Windows feature to all major platforms. The enterprise version has been available for Mac, Android and Linux for a couple of years now.
Now the company has released a preview version of the new program called Microsoft Defender Preview and to begin with is available for Windows and Android.
As rumor has it, it is more of a security portal than an antivirus program. The Windows version shows the status of the already built-in protections and shortcuts to the Windows security settings, so it is not a question of a replacement for that program.
On Android, on the other hand, Defender is an antivirus program that scans links to prevent you from downloading malware, but also goes through your installed apps and checks that they are not on any lists of malware.
The upcoming iOS version is expected to be more reminiscent of the Windows version, as Apple makes it impossible for third-party developers to do similar things as the Android app does.
The enterprise version of Defender for Mac is a full-featured antivirus program that uses Apple’s modern Endpoint Security framework, so I guess the consumer version will be too.
