Microsoft Security Essentials Review

[NIM]

Microsoft released final version (RTW) of "Security Essentials," which is an Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware software for "latest" Windows operating systems.

I said "latest", because it is only available for:

Windows XP x86

Windows Vista x86 and x64

Windows 7 x86 and x64

Installation was very simple and fast. Once you download MSE from this LINK and run installer, a windows pops out with useful information on what MSE really is.

On the second screen you're prompted to validate your copy of Windows. For those of you who are not using genuine versions of Window, installation will fail. Process of validation is very fast and it's finished in a second.

Once your copy of Windows is validated you may proceed with installation of Microsoft Security Essentials. Installation shouldn't take long.

Once installation completes and you run the MSE for the first time, MSE will update virus definitions and will make initial quick scan of your PC.

User interface can't be simpler. To perform a System Scan, you can choose one of the three options, Quick, Full, or Custom (familiar?). First, although quick scan already ran on the initial application startup, I tried to performed a quick scan again to see the speed of it. The Quick scan was very quick on my system. Scan completed on 87948 items in less than 2 minutes, pretty impressive if you ask me.

I won't run the full system scan as it would probably take longer to complete as this process scans all of your disks/partitions/files. As for the custom scan, you have an option to choose the drive or destination which you want to scan.

Update tab is has only once button to click, guess which. UPDATE!, although MSE should be updated automatically. History tab will shows you All of the detected items, Quarantined items or Allowed items, depends on your selection.

Settings tab has all other options that you might need to configure Microsoft Security Essentials, although once you install it, you don't have to touch it, as it will do the job properly.

If you still wan't to configure MSE other than default, here's what you can change/configure:

Scheduled scan - Here you can select/deselect a scheduled scan of your computer, configure time and type of the scan with two additional options (Check for the latest virus & spyware definitions before running a scheduled scan and Start the scheduled scan only when my computer is on but not in use, although MSE is running in low priority so you shouldn't notice any performance downgrades during the scan.

Default Actions - Here you can choose how will MSE react in various situations/alert levels.

Real-time protection - Real-time protection alerts you when viruses, spyware, or other potentially unwanted software attempts to install itself or run on your computer. You can select if you want to monitor file and program activity on your computer and if you want to scan all downloaded files and attachments.

Excluded files & locations, Excluded file types and Excluded processes - Here you can choose which files, locations, file types or processes would you like to remove from scanning. Useful, if you want to perform faster full scan of your computer.

Advanced - Advanced tab gives you the option to scan archive files like .zip or .cab files. You can also choose if you want to scan removable drivers, which isn't enabled by default, but I highly recommend it. You can create a system restore point prior cleaning your computer and give permission to all other users on your PC to view items in the History tab.

Microsoft SpyNet - Microsoft SpyNet program is an online community which helps stop the spread of new malicious software infections. You can choose Basic membership (default) or Advanced membership which will send more info to Microsoft about malicious software on your computer, like how the software operates, and how it has impacted your computer.

Conclusion:

This is the first antivirus application from Microsoft with integrated Anti-Spyware protection. So far I’m really impressed with MSE, because it's small ( setup just under 5MB), fast, stays out of your way and doesn’t hog your resources.

Update: Confirmed, MSE won't work if you have 'Checkpoint' software installed on Windows Vista x86. Expect freezes, bad performance etc.

[MANIKANT.S.GUPTA]

Thanks to Microsoft for this really it's very much impressive a very small setup+easy interface+Nice look+ As soon as i installed and updated it showed some threats on my pc, I was shocked as i was using Eset Smart Security and that file is showing safe by Eset and i was sure it was a threat but thanks to Microsoft Security Essential it cleaned up that threat.

But does it mean that eset is not working because it showed clean file ????.

To Which Antivirus we should beleive, Same is it with Quick heal i tried to scan one usb by Quick heal it showed some threats and same usb i scanned by Eset it showed no virus or any threat.

Everybody speaks Eset is best but how can i believe it after this all happened to me.

[ccl0]

could have been some false positives

[LUZR4LIFE]

Thanks to Microsoft for this really it's very much impressive a very small setup+easy interface+Nice look+ As soon as i installed and updated it showed some threats on my pc, I was shocked as i was using Eset Smart Security and that file is showing safe by Eset and i was sure it was a threat but thanks to Microsoft Security Essential it cleaned up that threat.

But does it mean that eset is not working because it showed clean file ????.

To Which Antivirus we should beleive, Same is it with Quick heal i tried to scan one usb by Quick heal it showed some threats and same usb i scanned by Eset it showed no virus or any threat.

Everybody speaks Eset is best but how can i believe it after this all happened to me.

Maybe NOD is slipping. Back when it 1st came out I ran it against AVG, Avast, ZL and it found things they had missed. But with so many false positives, who really knows. I think until NOD becomes a resource hog, all of the ealier user's will stay with it. But that is my opinion and I am still a big fan of NOD.

[MANIKANT.S.GUPTA]

could have been some false positives

Are we paying for False Positive, All antivirus are giving

[LUZR4LIFE]

Are we paying for False Positive, All antivirus are giving flase alerts to different files.

Eg :- I also tried Bitdefender it shows clean file but to that Eset shows Virus and after that i scanned with Kaspersky it Showed Clean File, And with Quick heal it showed virus. I am totally confused to which Antivirus i should rely on.

On which technology they work, Every Antivirus has its own technology to detect worms and trojans, and the fact is that same i asked to eset helpdesk of that scanning results shown by other antiviruses, they told me trust on their technology, same i did with Bitdefender Support desk

they told me to trust them.

I will go crazy What to do :ranting:

Only thing I could say is that all AV pro. are going to have false positives. When I was testing AV pro. I paid attention to what files were reported and made my conclusion to what I was going to do. I also burned known viruses to a cd for my testing. I tested NOD because I heard it was the best and used low resources. Now you have to decide which one pacifies you, so that way you feel comfortable. I am a little afraid to give MS a shot being that they can't make a OS that is virus free.

[NIM]

Better to have false positive than to get a virus IMO.

I will use Eset Anti Virus until my licence expires and then I'll most probably switch to MSE.

[Mr_Smartepants]

I installed this on my netbook testbed and the M$ tool kept wanting to block the Intel graphics utilities (3) and my Synaptic touchpad driver on every boot.

What a piece of sh*t!

I'm going back to Eset!

[NIM]

I installed this on my netbook testbed and the M$ tool kept wanting to block the Intel graphics utilities (3) and my Synaptic touchpad driver on every boot.

What a piece of sh*t!

I'm going back to Eset!

Haven't you tried to configure it and choose not to block these files?

[ccl0]

I am totally confused to which Antivirus i should rely on.

no antivirus software is 100% accurate. you will never find one that is.

here is a comparison of av programs

1-10

11-20

Edited September 30, 2009 by ccl0

[AMIRZ]

Thanks good AV and it's free. Running it now, seems nice :thumbsup_anim:

[ccl0]

according to this chart http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_report24.pdf

it comes in at #5. i guess not too bad for something that is free

[Jatin Beniwal]

I am using Microsoft Security Essentials with windows defender. Works like a charm. Even i have a license for Kapresky Internet Security 2010 but it makes system hell. Also is avira is that good that it tops all of av.

[ccl0]

another site gives it 89% detection rate. tied neck and neck with avira http://mtc.sri.com/live_data/av_rankings/

there is something called Ikarus, which even scored higher.. but i've never heard of it before

[pip22]

I am using Microsoft Security Essentials with windows defender. Works like a charm. Even i have a license for Kapresky Internet Security 2010 but it makes system hell. Also is avira is that good that it tops all of av.

You can't be using Microsoft Security Essentials with Windows Defender. MSE automatically disables Windows Defender and replaces it with the MSE anti-spyware component which is much more comprehensive in what it can detect.

[ccl0]

hi, just curious if you were going to review ver.2 ?

[NIM]

v2 doesn't have some noticeable changes for the user so I don't think I'll do it

[coucou]

Hi all,

is there a silent switch or anyhow silent install for this appz?

Regards

[ricktendo]

/s /runwgacheck /o