Microsoft has made the anti virus protection it uses to keep Edge users safe from phishing and other threats available in rival browser, Google Chrome.
The Windows Defender Browser Protection can be downloaded as a Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store and as well as preventing phishing attempts, also helps to keep users safe from social engineering attempts and other malware tainted sites.
The extension borrows its name from Windows Defender, the antivirus software that Microsoft includes with its Windows operating system.
“If you click a malicious link in an email or navigate to a site designed to trick you into disclosing financial, personal or other sensitive information, or a website that hosts malware, Windows Defender Browser Protection will check it against a constantly updated list of malicious URLs known to Microsoft,” reads the extension’s description in the Chrome Web Store.
Should a user click on a malicious link, the extension will display a red warning that takes the user back to safety.
It is worth pointing out that Chrome also has its own inbuilt anti-virus protection but Microsoft claims that Windows Defender is better at keeping out viruses and other online threats.
According to Microsoft, Windows Defender is 99 percent effective against phishing compared with 87 percent from Google Chrome and 70 percent from FireFox.
The news comes after Google announced that Chrome will now give users the option to stop videos that play automatically with sound.
“As announced earlier, autoplay is now allowed only when either the media won’t play sound, after the user clicks or taps on the site, or (on desktop) if the user has previously shown an interest in media on the site,” Google said in its update notes.
“This will reduce unexpected video playbacks with sound when first opening a web page.”
“Users watch and listen to a lot of media, and autoplay can make it faster and easier to consume on the web”, a spokesperson for the firm wrote in a blog post.
“However, one of the most frequent user concerns is unexpected media playback, which can use data, consume power, and make unwanted noise while browsing.
“To address this, Chrome will be making autoplay more consistent with user expectations and will give users more control over audio.
The new feature is available in Chrome 66 which you can download by going to Settings > Help About Google Chrome.
