MS Security Essentials : worth the try

[dominique]

Has any of you experimented with the free AntiVirus from Microsoft?

The wife got herself a netbook with W7 Premium. I usually put the AVG antivirus (free version) on our computers as it has a decent footprint and is doing the job. But I wonder whether the MSSE is worth the try.

[kilo delta]

It's supposedly very good, for a freeware program. Personally, however, I believe you get what you pay for...so I'm running Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and the freeware Spybot S&D.

[TeaSea]

I have not heard anything on MSSE either way. I will query some of my guys at work.

I use McAfee which I receive gratis the DOD. BTW, all you Veteran retiree's can do the same.

I also use it for my firewall and disable the WIN7 firewall. I found they often got in arguments with one another.

[Devildog73]

I have had it for about the last 6-8 mnths. I uninstalled my Symantec Endpoint firewall and combination anti-virus and anti-spyware program in favor of MS Security Essentials. I also have two other popular anti spyware programs and hijack this. Since switching over to MS Sec Essent. I have had no spyware, no viruses, no problems. It uses gobs less CPU and RAM resources than Symantec. My machines run a lot faster with MS Security Essentials than they did with Symantec or in earlier days McAfee, both of which are resources HOGS.

[Skittles]

In my opinion Avast is the best antivirus going.

Extremely fast with minimal background processes, and it manages to upgrade every day (virus definitions) without me even noticing that it's done it. I'll be happy working along when the voice pops up "Your virus definitions have been updated."

Eh? You didn't even slow down little computer, how did you manage that?

[Snuffy]

I was running the windows Live stuff ... and recently they announced they were no longer supporting the Live program.

In place of the Live program they recommended MSSE naturally, and so I installed it.

So far I've had it for a little under a month now and I haven't seen any detrimental effects of the SE program.

I do think though that I have had a bit of an enhancement. Since removing the Live program, I've noticed that my system now boots slightly faster.

Outside of that, its a freebee and seems to be working just fine. It has alerted me twice now to the fact that I haven't scanned my system when it thought I should have.

My recommendations. Why not. ;)

[WarHorse47]

My ISP recently switched from McAfee to Norton, and I've had nothing but problems since. Although its free as part of my monthly package, it continues to consume resources, lockup the computer from time to time, and freeze IE8. Their solution is to uninstall and reinstall. If I'm going to uninstall, I'm going to find another product.

Does anyone have some comparison between MS Security Essentials and these other virus and firewall programs? I had the Microsoft defender for awhile, but removed it since it seems to duplicate the protection I was getting with my current protection sofware.

--WH

[Bjoern]

MSSE uses more Ram than Antivir and can't be disabled via services/scripts. So it was kind of a letdown for me since want to quickly and easily disable my antivirus program when running demanding stuff like FSX.
Maybe future versions, but so far it's Antivir all the way!

[PRB]

I use MS Security Essentials on all my computers. So far it's caught one virus trying to sneak through. I keep it up to date and scan regularly.

[Panther_99FS]

It's logical to assume that this would be a good product since no one else knows the inner workings MS OS & Office software other than Microsoft....

[pilottj]

My ISP (comcast) changed from Macafee to Norton as their 'free' antivirus service too. So instead of taking Norton, I downloaded MSSE and have been running it for a few months. I have had no complaints so far, the computer seems to run faster than it did under Mcafee and it has caught a few things comming from websites. As far as I can tell it looks like MSSE encompasses the features of Defender.



My ISP recently switched from McAfee to Norton, and I've had nothing but problems since. Although its free as part of my monthly package, it continues to consume resources, lockup the computer from time to time, and freeze IE8. Their solution is to uninstall and reinstall. If I'm going to uninstall, I'm going to find another product.

Does anyone have some comparison between MS Security Essentials and these other virus and firewall programs? I had the Microsoft defender for awhile, but removed it since it seems to duplicate the protection I was getting with my current protection sofware.

--WH

[FAC257]

The one thing I've been impressed by the MS security stuff is that once it passed the av-comparatives.org qualifications for testing, it's done fairly well from test to test. I've seen it ranked near the top at times and then like in the current test runs its in the middle of the pack.

I'm not sure it's ever been dropped from the test listing once it made it, where as some of the other favorites folks have mentioned over the years have been dropped from testing from time to time.

I've been almost impressed to the point of giving MS a try in favor of Symantec which I haven't budged from since the DOS version days.

Edit: Just saw this while I was posting.
">>> "Does anyone have some comparison between MS Security Essentials and these other virus and firewall programs?" <<<
It's on the current list at av-comparatives.org stacked against the other major players.

FAC

[dominique]

Thank you very much, gentlemen, for your thoughts and experiences, much appreciated. I left Norton few years back to AVG because of its huge footprint and tendency to add zillions of files all around...

@ Panther : you mean they know more than anybody else of all the holes they carelessly left open in the OS fabrics :icon_lol: ?

[Panther_99FS]

@ Panther : you mean they know more than anybody else of all the holes they carelessly left open in the OS fabrics :icon_lol: ?

LoL not quite the way I'd word it but essentially, correct :)

[TeaSea]

Humorous, but an interesting point....

Do you want your security managed by the same folks that brought you the vulnerable code to begin with? Not that the code itself is bad...I'm of the firm belief that MS systems are targeted because they are so prevalent, that if they had just a tiny niche in the market (aka Apple), they would not be such a target and hence there would be fewer vulnerabilities.

To use the security systems of a system that is already the world's number one objective for hackers might well be inviting problems....

Don't know if I'd let that adjust my thinking on running MSSE, but I might keep that in the back of my head.

[Panther_99FS]

Humorous, but an interesting point....

Do you want your security managed by the same folks that brought you the vulnerable code to begin with? Not that the code itself is bad...I'm of the firm belief that MS systems are targeted because they are so prevalent, that if they had just a tiny niche in the market (aka Apple), they would not be such a target and hence there would be fewer vulnerabilities.

To use the security systems of a system that is already the world's number one objective for hackers might well be inviting problems....

Don't know if I'd let that adjust my thinking on running MSSE, but I might keep that in the back of my head.

On the flip sid, we can also examine it like this....
The MS OS we can agree is highly targeted.....BUT I'd debate for example that McAfee & Symantec are targeted by hackers more than MS Security Essentials for precisely the same reason you state MS OS is targeted - it's because McAfee & Symantec are so prevalent ...

[WarHorse47]

Well, I took the plunge. I removed Norton and installed MSSE. First impression is that it might do the trick, primarily with freeing up some resources.

On the downside I cannot get the program to automatically load after startup or reboot. I found another MS malware that was installed awhile back and uninstalled that per recommendations. I've had to uninstall and reinstall MSSE three times now and still cannot get it to automatically load. This is not a good situation as the wife also needs the computer and I shouldn't have to do turn on the program all the time. I may have to go back to the free Norton offered by my ISP if I can't solve this one.

--WH

[Panther_99FS]

Well, I took the plunge. I removed Norton
--WH

I'm impressesd that you were even able to this (I've read multiple reports & experienced personally how difficult it can be to completely remove Symantec) :d

[WarHorse47]

I'm impressesd that you were even able to this (I've read multiple reports & experienced personally how difficult it can be to completely remove Symantec) :dThanks. I'll take that compliment. :ernae:

I had already contemplated removing Norton when I first encountered problems, and had a download of their removal program. It seemed to do the job.

In researching the issues encountered with MSSE, I came cross this page that might help others:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/msestart/thread/407bf6da-c05d-4546-8788-0aa4c25a1f91

For the moment, MSSE is working for me. The issue is that it is slow to load at boot-up, and Security Center gives its usual warning that the system is not protected. It took about a minute for MSSE to wake up and smell the coffee.

Apparently it is a technical issue that's discussed on several forums, and has something related to the load order of the services.

Overall, I have seen an overall improvement in performance with my old puter. I had the tabs option turned off with IE8, and still it locked up with Norton. So far there have been no problems, and it seems to even run faster.

I'm running XP SP3 with 1 Gb RAM, 2.4 Mhz in case anyone is interested. And I leave MSSE running in the background with FS9, although I do stop and restart unessential apps with FSAutoStart.

--WH

[TeaSea]

On the flip sid, we can also examine it like this....
The MS OS we can agree is highly targeted.....BUT I'd debate for example that McAfee & Symantec are targeted by hackers more than MS Security Essentials for precisely the same reason you state MS OS is targeted - it's because McAfee & Symantec are so prevalent ...


Well, that's a good point too.....

[Gdavis101]

If it has MS in the title I would probably avoid it. As for Norton, that has to be the biggest waste of money out there.. 6 years with AVG Free and no major problems here.

[Panther_99FS]

If it has MS in the title I would probably avoid it. .

You running Windows, Linux, or Mac OS :ques:

[GT182]

I've been running MS Security Essentials for the past few months and I've had no problems at all with it. As far as I can see it's working just fine. I've been running Webroot Spy Sweeper with it's antivirus to check and see how MS SE is doing, and so far everything is ok. Neither one has let anything in. My Spy Sweeper subscription runs out in June and I'm not going to renew it.... I'll tuff it out with MS SE only from now on.

So I say go for it, it'll save you money.