If you've ever rocked with a Microsoft operating system at any point in your life,Watch The Running Mates: Human Rights Online you're probably familiar with Microsoft Defender Antivirus. It's been with the OS since the early 90's when it was called Microsoft Anti-Virus for MS-DOS and it's always been free.

However, with the recent announcement of Microsoft Defender for Individuals, many are wondering: Do I have to pay for this now?

As Neil Rubenking at PCMag.com reports, the short answer is no, not really. Microsoft Defender for Individuals is only available as part of a paid subscription to the Microsoft 365 cloud-based office service and strictly protects non-Windows devices. For Mac and Android (but not iOS), you can pay a small subscription fee to use Microsoft's antivirus software.

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So for any confused Microsoft OS users: No, you don't have to pay for the built-in antivirus protector. However, as Rubenking points out, there are much better free services you should use anyway.

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Topics Microsoft