Is MS Security Essentials Any Good?

[Tushman]

I'm trying to help out my Dad with anti-virus security on his laptop. Currently he has Malwarebytes Anti-malware installed. No other AV programs. Are there any known issues with installing MS Security Essentials on the same system? I'm really not even excited about MS Security Essentials, but I keep hearing good things about it so I thought I would give it a try.

[Ed_P]

Fred Langa tested it for 6 months on various machines, never got infected, and now recommends it. I use it on my wife's netbook with the same results.

[goretsky]

Hello,I think Microsoft Security Essentials is a good program with a good team behind it. There's not such think as a "perfect" security program, but it is certainly of of the better ones.Regards,Aryeh Goretsky

[mac]

Another vote for MSE. I haven't found that it uses very many resources even when scanning. I also have Malwarebytes on my PC, but, only for on demand scanning. The two play well together.

[Tushman]

Another vote for MSE. I haven't found that it uses very many resources even when scanning. I also have Malwarebytes on my PC, but, only for on demand scanning. The two play well together.

OK, thanks for the feedback guys. I've give it a try today.

[Corrine]

Even though you've already decided to give MSE a try, I thought I'd add my vote for MSE as an excellent "free-for-personal-use" (and now for small businesses of 10 or less PCs). The same definitions and anti-malware engine are used for MSE as the "corporate version", Forefront Client Security (FCS).

[Tushman]

Even though you've already decided to give MSE a try, I thought I'd add my vote for MSE as an excellent "free-for-personal-use" (and now for small businesses of 10 or less PCs). The same definitions and anti-malware engine are used for MSE as the "corporate version", Forefront Client Security (FCS).

My very first hands-on experience with MSE was not positive. I had a friend whos fiancé had installed MSE on a rather old Dell laptop (only 384 MB RAM) without first removing NOD32. Needless to say, things were a bit fubarred by the time I got to her house to take a look at it. I tried to uninstall MSE because my friend had already bought a full-years subscription for NOD32. The uninstaller kept burping in the midst of the routine saying that it could not un-install for some odd unknown reason. I even tried to use the MS Clean up utility to try and get rid of it with no success. That was no fun for me - I spent hours at her house.I have obviously underestimated MSE. As I mentioned previously, based on the several recommendations I have seen on various forums, I decided to be open-minded about trying MSE despite my negative 1st experience. My Dad's laptop is only 2 years old so it's a relatively fast system with ample RAM (3 GB). For a guy that was running without any kind of AV protection, the system was relatively clean (crazy old fart is the word here). I installed it and left the next day, so I didn't really get a chance to observe it long-term; for the 1 or 2 hours that I used it, it seemed to be fine. Edited October 17, 2010 by Tushman

[crp]

here is another vote for MSE. I have used it on several pc's , a couple of them over 3 years old. It actually caught bad stuff gave good warning descriptions on things it wasn't sure about and stayed out of the way.

[FuzzButt]

I'm also adding a positive note about MSE. I have it on several machines that used to either have F-Secure 2009 or a free version of Avast or AVG installed. It does what it should do. I have personally used it on very infected PC's that had ISP supplied AV solutions on it and have removed virus's from them without issues. My one trouble spot with MSE occurred trying to install it on a 6 year old copy of WinXP Pro that had Norton 2004 installed plus all the downloading was done on a dial-up connection. I could not install MSE. It fails half way thru. The owner got infected with a drive-by and/or poor choices in selecting security software thru a rogue ad on a site. I think the only thing I can do is start over with them and I am sure a fresh install of XP will allow me to get MSE on that machine. I'm not faulting Microsoft on this one. That PC is sick already. I use it on my Win7 64 bit PC and it's Windows Virtual PC "XP Mode" as well as my wife's Win7 32 bit laptop. I just wish I could use it on WHS.

[Corrine]

Hi, FuzzButt. Although a fresh format probably wouldn't hurt, if it is just a rogue, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware does an excellent job removing them. If you know the name of the rogue, use the search at http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/ for detailed information. You may also find after cleanup that remnants from previous A/V's are causing issues. Uninstallers are linked from Ultimate List of Uninstallers or try http://www.appremover.com/.

[cantthinkofanickname]

Don't run more that one A/V program at a time. They might conflict and certainly will slow things down twice over. Never had any trouble with MSE, thogh wondering what the "Never such a thing as a free lunch" catches are. Do they offer a paid version?

[Corrine]

Microsoft used to offer a paid version in the form of Windows Live OneCare. When the decision was made to develop MSE, current OneCare subscriptions were supported until the cut-off date. Now Microsoft offers MSE free for consumers as well as up to 10 installations for small businesses. Forefront is the paid/licensed enterprise version.