MS Security Essentials

GARoss · 21 Jun 2011

Been using combo of MS Security Essentials + Malwarebytes as recommended by our good friends here at W7F since April. No problems so far.

I be he · 21 Jun 2011

bigmck said:

I have used Zone Alarm Security Suite for about ten years and have always been please with it. Their annual fee is $39 to keep the updates current. I am thinking of switching to MS Security Essentials. The reviews I have read seem to be good, but I would like to hear from some real people. Tell me of any experience you have had with it. Thanks,

Its not at the same level as Avast or panda. However it is improving, and is still a good A/V. Ive noticed malware can easily turn MSE off, so keep Malwarebytes close by and updated. I think it performes best when paired with IE-9 and its smartscreen. Combine this with Sandboxie and you should have all the layered protection youll need for free

Maguscreed · 21 Jun 2011

well you can always just surf with noscript and ghostery.
Noscript requires a lot of set up though...
Ghostery on the other hand is a free anti dataminer plugin that works with just about every browser.
Ghostery

bigmck · 22 Jun 2011

marsmimar said:

BTW, good to se you back Jim. How ya doin'?

I want to thank you all for your opinions on MSE. It has helped alot. == Thanks Marsmimar for asking. I am feeling just great these days. I can now do work without gasping for breathe. I have not been on here alot recently due to it being baseball season. My time gets wrapped up in it. You will still see me on here from time to time. Thanks,

seavixen32 · 22 Jun 2011

You are very welcome. Pleased we were of some help.

The Howling Wolves · 22 Jun 2011

Glad to have you back bigmck even if is limited.
Baseball has been berry berry good to me!......an old commercial.:)

Corrine · 22 Jun 2011

Hi, bigmck.

Good to see you!

Remember, when replacing a security suite with a stand-alone antivirus software, you need to replace the software firewall as well. Since you have Windows 7, I think you'll find the Windows 7 firewall works well.

Matt2488 · 23 Jun 2011

MSE is pretty decent, it's low on system resources, it's simple to use and offers basic protection.

Really the only thing I didn't like about it was it's on-access scanner. It's just not that great (I had quite a few things sneak past on an alternate machine), and as you can see people are recommending you have a good on-demand scanner if you use MSE.

For an inexperienced user it's good, but for someone who knows more about security products and likes to be in more control of their security I wouldn't recommend it.

Overall though I think there are better free-products on the market than MSE. Avira, AVG, and Comodo AV are free more robust AV's. They all offer more.

Maguscreed · 23 Jun 2011

Spend some time reading memory dumps on this site though, you'll quickly become more and more distrustful of third party active av's they are the cause of problems for so many people...

DBone · 24 Jun 2011

I have installed avast!, Panda Cloud and Comodo on over 12 machines, all with different architecture, and haven't experienced even one problem in over 2yrs. These machines are used by a variety of owners all with differing levels of experience.