As the old saying goes "ignorance is bliss (what you don't know can't hurt you... until it actually does)". Some (well, a lot - actually) - seem to threat Windows Defender as if it's a religious tool - as if Windows Security is a religion and praying to Windows Defender (indirectly, by simply having a strong belief - that it's all it takes to protect the system) - is enough to keep harm at bay.
Point being... the majority of people are just playing pretend - when it comes to virtual security. And so far - there's no way around it - for the general population (to preserve one's peace of mind - that is). Sure, ideally (even an utopian perspective) - it helps to educate yourself. But let's face it - 99.99% don't have what it takes (this includes even people that are actually capable of learning - but it's just to much of a hassle to do so - to far fetched for their chosen/defining lifestyle). Tho, to be fair... it takes to much - to have a truly secure system (financially in particular - especially if you pay for someone to handle your system's security "as a home user" - tho, it's quite costly even if you take matters into your hand - while having the knowledge and skill to secure your system). And even then - if you're targeted by skilled individuals (not just randomly chosen - while making some stupid mistakes) - you're pretty much shoveled. Doesn't even take a genius level of skill (quite average - by modern standards) - if the ones in question have deep pockets.
That being said... best level of protection - is usually some basic security knowledge paired common sense and poverty (empty bank accounts) and averageness (nobody will target you intentionally - if you're just a nobody and there's nothing or to little they can gain from target you). Even if worst case scenario - you miss something and get infected - you'll be a lost cause for every attacker (wasted effort).
Funny thing is, quite ironic too... the technological advancements and many so called security features (be it hardware like IME, TPM chips and the software that comes with that) - it's actually what increased the security concerns of the systems using them. Since this features have very high privileges (IME actually has the highest - 3 levels above your used Operating System) - for monitoring and controlling your machine, yet... they're far from a priority for updates and patching their known security issues (even completely ignored - after a year or two - since the release of a given model). And IME can actually manage your system's hardware while asleep. Anyway, maybe not the software - but older hardware/tech - was actually more secure (or at least easier to secure).
